


Little Things Define Us

by tracecode



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-11
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-04 04:51:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1766122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tracecode/pseuds/tracecode
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of Slade's attack the team tries to pick up where they left off. They find a new enemy to take down, but it has unintended consequences for all of them. Felicity and Oliver must come to terms with what this means for themselves and each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This is my first fic in a very long time and my first for this fandom. I hope you enjoy and please leave comments or feedback. If you like this fic please feel free to follow me on Tumblr. My main blog is tracecode, but my Arrow blog is kobayashimarubikscube. Thanks and enjoy!

It was unfair of Felicity Smoak to expect life to go back to normal. It was unrealistic really and while she understood that on an intellectual level, there was still a part of her that believed things would go back to the way they were before. Before the madness, before the mirakuru, before the “I love you”.

Mostly before the “I love you”

She’d spent the first few weeks back from Lian Yu replaying that night over and over again in her head. She’d agonized over what Oliver had said, what he did, what it all meant.  That’s what drove her insane really, wondering what it all could mean. Of course things weren’t normal. They couldn’t just pretend the last few weeks hadn’t happened. Make believe they weren’t all affected by the events.

It was impossible to go back to what they were. Who they were.

When she’d first joined team Arrow there was a mission. First it was to find Walter, then to cross names off the list, after that it was to honor Tommy, and finally they needed to stop Slade. Now it felt as if they were lost, searching for a purpose. Oliver had said there would be other battles, and of that Felicity had no doubt, but she just had no idea what those battles would be.

                A shrill repetitive beeping broke her trance. Her eyes snapped back into focus and it only took a second before her hands flew across the keyboard to check the data she’d just received.

                “Digg, Oliver” She called out. They’d been sparring on the mat behind her going at each other for what felt like hours. They’d all been a bit tense since their return from Lian Yu. They’d manage to put together what Felicity affectionately referred to as the Foundry 2.0. She’d salvaged what she could from her old network setup and put together a new one that was almost as good. While they’d all been doing everything in their power to help the city recover from the aftermath of Slade’s attack there was still so much that needed to be done and they all felt a little powerless to do it. “I’ve got a hit” She said.

                The two men came over and stood behind her staring at the information on the screens.

“The name’s Morty Steinbach aka the Alchemist. According to the SCPD he was linked to the killing of two women in Starling city a few years ago. Apparently he injected them with a gold-pyrite polymer mixture before painting them with gold paint and leaving them on display.” She paused before reading the next part her voice getting softer “He claimed they were his gift to the world.” She turned her chair around “He was spotted back in town earlier today. Unfortunately this is all I can find on him. The rest of the files are kept in a locked cabinet” She looked over at the two men who were now on either side of her staring intently at the screens. “Offline” She clarified.

Digg sighed “What’s this guy doing back in Starling?”

“And why wasn’t he put away the first time?” Oliver followed.

“I have that” Felicity said pulling up another screen “Apparently his lawyer was either really good, which he wasn’t, or he had connections with someone, because Steinbach was able to plead insanity. He was put away for almost three years instead of life in prison. He was just released two months ago.” She swiveled back around in her chair to face Oliver “I’ve gotta say, it all sounds really fishy to me.”

Oliver nodded and turned running a hand along his bow “I agree” He said “But we need more information.” He turned back around “Felicity?” His silent question hanging in the air.

“Already on it” She said as her fingers once again flew across the keys.

With her back turned and her attention elsewhere she couldn’t see the small smile that ghosted Oliver’s face.

In mere seconds information flashed across the screen that made her eyes widen. “Oliver” she said “You’ll never guess who the lead detective on the Alchemist case was.”

Oliver knew the answer before he looked up and saw Detective Lance’s face plastered on Felicity’s screen staring back at him.

Lance. He was still in the ICU at Starling general; when they first brought him in the night of Slade’s attack he’d been in critical condition. And after two surgeries it was touch and go for a while, really  _really_  touch and go, but as of now he was stable but still unconscious. However, they needed to get their hands on that file, but with Lance unconscious in the hospital there was only one person they could ask.

“There’s only one person we know with the authority to get their hands on that file.” Oliver said turning to leave.

 “Are you sure that’s a good idea man?” Diggle countered “Things between you and Laurel have been a bit…tense for the last few weeks.”

Oliver turned back around to face his partner “How tense can they be when she won’t speak to me or acknowledge my presence?”

Felicity swiveled around in her chair “Well, you clearly haven’t been in a room with the two of you lately. Well, I mean that figuratively of course because it would be impossible for you to be in a room with her and also to  _not_ be in a room with her because it’s really one or the other in that case…” She looked up and saw both Oliver and Diggle’s faces “And I’m just gonna…” She pointed to her computer and swiveled the chair back around.

 As usual, and to Felicity’s relief, Oliver ignored her rant. “She’s shutting me out, and I don’t know why.”

Diggle crossed his arms in front of his chest “Have you asked her?” he questioned, eyebrows raised.

Oliver hadn’t. He’d thought of a million reasons why she was pushing him away. She needed time to process who he really was, she was concerned about her father, she was hurt over Sara leaving, but none of them seemed to make complete sense. He also knew Diggle would call them out for what they really were, excuses. Excuses not to talk to Laurel and figure out what was happening for real.

In response to Dig’s question Oliver just shook his head.

 “Go. Go talk to her and find out what’s really upsetting her. You’re not doing yourself any favors by waiting around and hoping it’ll work itself out.”

Oliver knew he was right. It was clear to anyone that Diggle’s advice made sense. However, that didn’t make it any easier for Oliver to follow.

                “I’m going to see if she can get us the file.” Oliver said before walking out the door.

 

Laurel agreed to meet Oliver for coffee. They met up at a coffee shop near her office and took their coffee to-go in order to enjoy the nice weather. Oliver couldn’t help but notice how careful and controlled he felt with Laurel. Somehow, despite her knowing his secret, he felt less free to talk to her than before.

They walked into a small garden a few blocks away and sat down on a bench near a fountain decorated with rust colored dolphins. After a careful exchange of pleasantries, Laurel’s father’s condition was mostly unchanged and Oliver was doing well, it was Laurel who broke the ice.

“What’s all this really about Ollie?” She asked “I know you didn’t ask me to coffee just to check in on my father. You could visit him at the hospital for that. So what’s this about?”

Oliver froze, it wasn’t her bluntness that stopped him, that he was used to. Instead it was the tone of her voice. She sounded cold, detached and hurt, all of which genuinely surprised Oliver. He knew she’d been pushing him away and keeping her distance, but he didn’t expect her to be so angry when she finally spoke to him. A part of him truly believed she was pulling away because she was concerned about her father.  

He didn’t know how to address her anger, so he did the next best thing. “Mort Steinbach” he said.

“What?”

“Mort Steinbach, the media called him the Alchemist. Your father worked the case.”

“I remember” Laurel replied “What about him?”

“He’s back. He was released from the mental hospital a few months ago and he’s back in Starling.”

“And what do you need from me exactly?” Laurel asked looking suspicious.

Oliver let out a long sigh before replying, he’d hoped things with Laurel would have been easier. “I need a file. Your father’s case file on the Alchemist.”

Laurel looked down at the coffee cup in her hands, her fingers drumming along the sides. It felt like hours before she responded. “What about your tech girl? Felicity? Can’t she get the file?”

Oliver’s brow furrowed. “The file is locked away in the precinct, and I’d rather avoid breaking in there” Oliver paused “again”

Laurel nodded her head looking down at her coffee and avoiding Oliver’s gaze. Fed up, Oliver spoke “Laurel are we going to talk about this?”

Her head popped up and her gaze finally met Oliver’s “Talk about what Oliver?” She asked chin up in a defiant challenge.

Oliver took the bait “About whatever has you so angry.”

Laurel let out a laugh, a sound with no joy in it. “You know what? I am angry. I’m angry and I’m confused and I’m sick and tired of getting hurt. I thought I meant something to you Ollie, I really did. After you came back from the island I thought things might change for us. Even when you were dating Sarah  _again_ I still thought that we might end up together. But it turns out there was someone else all along.” She let out a shaky breath ““I was there Oliver, remember? Slade kidnapped me and held a knife to my throat. He said he wanted to kill the woman that you love the most but it wasn’t me.” She paused before speaking again “It’s not me, is it?” She didn’t give him a chance to answer “When Sara left she told me that you needed me, but I think she was wrong.” Laurel worried her lower lip between her teeth her anger seemed to have faded away “I think you need her.” She said softly

Oliver opened his mouth to reply, but found he had no words to say

“Do you love her?” She asked. Well, that was Laurel, nothing if not direct. “I need to know Ollie, because this” She pointed between them “this on and off, back and forth thing, it doesn’t work. We’re either in or we’re out, but I can’t be in the middle. It’s too hard.”

Oliver waited a long moment before replying, his voice soft. “Laurel…”

“That’s not an answer Ollie” She said.

He shook his head “It’s….complicated”

Laurel took a shuttering breath “Of course it is.” She didn’t give him a chance to respond. She stood up to walk away “I’ll have the file to you by tomorrow” She said over her shoulder as she walked down the path away from him.

Oliver felt his phone buzz and looked down, there was a message from Felicity. ‘Meet back at the Foundry when you can. Found something.’

Oliver hurried back.

He walked into the Foundry, or the Foundry 2.0 as Felicity always called it, a smile ghosting his lips at the thought.

“What did you find” He called out walking over to her computers.

“Steinbach broke into the Starling City museum’s security network. They alerted the police and the police, unbeknownst to them, alerted me.”

“Did you get anything?”

“You know” She said looking up at him “It hurts me, truly, that you still feel the need to ask.”

Oliver couldn’t hide the smile that crossed his face

“I was able to back trace his hack and find his IP address. I’m monitoring his network now and keeping an eye out for any suspicious behavior. I’m also looking into why he hacked the museum in the first place and I’ll let you know when I find something.” She turned back to her computers for a moment before a thought struck her “Oh! I forgot to ask. How did it go with Laurel?”

Oliver tensed, an action hoped Felicity hadn’t noticed. “Fine.” He said “She’ll have the file for us by tomorrow.” He said nothing else as he turned to go work out. He needed to get out all of his pent up emotion and energy and working on the salmon ladders sounded exactly like what he needed. However, the workout proved to be a poor distraction for his racing thoughts. His mind soon wandered to the blonde woman sitting a few feet away from him.

When it came to Felicity he’d opened a door that he couldn’t shut. He’d done the unthinkable to stop Slade, he’d risked Felicity in so many ways. He’d offered her up as bait and played with her emotions in order to do so. He took advantage of her feelings and her loyalty and put her in harm’s way just to stop a man he should have cured—or killed years ago, and still she forgave him, she remained loyal to him, she believed in him. Oliver would give anything not to put her in danger again. She was an asset to the team and he couldn’t risk losing her. However, Felicity was his partner and trying to keep her out of danger was as pointless as trying to keep himself out of danger. Still, the ache he felt in his chest at the sight of Slade’s blade at her throat, at the thought of her getting hurt, it was enough to make him sick. No, he would protect her, in every way he could. Even if Oliver was a destructive force that tore through the lives of the people he cared about most he would keep her safe. He just needed to keep his mind clear, he couldn’t let his feelings cloud his judgment. If he didn’t keep his emotions in check it was only a matter of time before Felicity was just another name on the list of people he’s loved and lost.

                “Oliver” Felicity’s voice cut through the air pulling Oliver from his thoughts. “I found something”.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, I want to say thank you so much to everyone who read and responded to this! I didn't expect to get such nice feedback at all and I'm so grateful!  
> Secondly, I am hoping to continue to update this once a week (around Tuesday or Wednesday) but with my final exam coming up and my internship getting crazy I'm not sure how likely that will be. So I apologize in advance for any late updates. I have four chapters planned in total, but that is subject to change.  
> I hope you enjoy where this fic is going!

Felicity had been keeping an eye on Steinbach’s movements and found that he spent a lot of time looking up the Rosewater Alchemy set in the Starling City museum.  
“It’s an alchemy set from the Middle Ages; he must want it for his…you know…killing purposes.” Felicity said gesturing with her hands. “That was why he broke into the museum’s security network.”

“Do you think he’s going to go after it?” Diggle said coming down the stairs with a bag of food in his hands, Felicity gratefully accepted the food he placed on her desk.

  
“Definitely” She said pulling up information on her screens “According to the museum website there’s a legend that says it was incredibly powerful, he must think it could help him because he’s been keeping a close eye on it. He’s monitored the museum’s security weaknesses, guard’s routes, camera placement, and internal network flaws. The works, he’s serious about this.”

  
“How does this work for us?” Oliver asked moving to her side to see the screens. Felicity could feel the heat radiating off of him and it sent sparks through her stomach. It certainly didn’t help that he was shirtless, no that most definitely was not helping her concentration at all.

  
Felicity cleared her throat “Well, do you remember the Dodger case?” She asked.

Oliver looked up at her, his eyebrows practically reaching his forehead. “He strapped a bomb to your neck Felicity. I don’t think I’m likely to forget that.”

Felicity’s breath caught in her throat for a moment. As long as she lived she would never get use to the intensity of his gaze.

  
“Well this is a lot like that, minus the bombs. Hopefully” She added “You see all I need to do is work up the same sort of tracking device. Then we sneak into the museum, plant it on the artifact and wait for him to steal it.”

  
Diggle laughed “Oh, that’s it huh?”

  
“Yes Look there’s a gala tomorrow night at the museum. A fundraiser to help fix the destruction caused by Slade’s army. It’s the perfect cover, people will expect Oliver to be there. Then, when the time comes we sneak away and you break into the case while I monitor the device. It’s simple.”

  
She looked at Oliver and Diggle hoping they would agree. Diggle actually looked impressed.

  
“She’s got a point, that might actually work.” He said.

  
“Well?” She said looking to Oliver.

  
Oliver took a long moment to reply. When he did it was with a simple “Okay” before turning over his shoulder to look at his arrows. Diggle looked over at Felicity his unasked question clear on his face. What’s wrong with Oliver? In response Felicity merely shrugged her shoulders. She had no clue what had Oliver extra tense today. Although, if she had to guess, she’d say it had something to do with Laurel.

  
Not that he’d talk about it, Oliver had a strict no talking about his feelings policy. Unless it was the end of the world. Then all bets were off.  
Against her strict orders her mind flashed back to that night. Her heart had practically stopped when he told her that he loved her. Then she felt the weight of the syringe pressed into her palm and she was certain her heart would never beat again. The reality of what he was asking her to do crashed into her like a wave. With that one gesture he put the entire city into her hands. He gave her the thing that he cared about most and trusted her to save it. Unthinkable. Unthinkable that he could trust her with so much and believe that she wouldn’t fail.

  
Oliver walked back into the room with his phone to his ear. “Thank you, I understand. Yes I will be there. You too. Goodbye.” He hung up the phone and looked up at his partners. “That was the board of trustees. In light of Isabel’s death they agreed to my offer.” He said, disbelief clear in his voice “Walter and I will be the new heads of Queen Consolidated.”

  
Oliver had approached Walter shortly after they returned from Lian Yu. Given Walter’s stake in the company and Oliver’s less than impressive job as the sole CEO it only made sense for them to join and run the company together. Oliver could think of no one he trusted more for the job and the board was glad to have a Queen in charge once again. It was an ideal situation and Oliver was relived the board thought so as well.

  
Diggle came over and gave Oliver a solid handshake and a pat on the back “Congratulations man.”

  
Felicity smiled “Congrats, it looks like you’re a billionaire once again Mr. Queen.”

  
Oliver smiled at her “Thank you and hey” He said moving over toward Felicity “I was wondering if you would be willing to take your job back as my personal assistant.”

  
Her eyebrows shot up “Is it an order again?” She asked.

  
Oliver shook his head “Not this time. Now it’s an offer, one that you’re allowed to refuse.”

  
The sincerity in his eyes struck Felicity and after a long moment she let out a sigh.

  
“Fine." She said "Everyone already thinks we’re sleeping together anyway.” It was Oliver’s turn to look surprised “What” she said “You think I didn’t know about that? I’m blonde Oliver, not stupid.”

  
Oliver let a small smile cross his face. He heard Diggle call out from behind him.

  
“Does this mean I’m your black driver again?” Oliver turned around to look at his partner, his face the only answer Diggle needed. “Yeah” Dig said “I thought as much.”

  
“I’m sorry Dig, but I need you. I need both of you” Oliver admitted “I can’t do this without you two.”

  
“Now that’s something we can agree on” Diggle said crossing his arms with a smile “You’re useless without us.”

  
They all went back to work and Felicity spent the next few hours working on the tracking device. There was a meeting with the stakeholders at QC in the morning so they called it an early night once she’d finished.

 

Felicity went home and dreamt of Oliver that night.

  
More specifically, she dreamt of the night Slade kidnapped her from the Queen mansion. She was in that room with Slade’s blade pressed against her throat once more. Fear chilling her deep in her bones as blood rushed through her ears she heard Oliver tell Slade he was distracted from the real danger in front of him. Except this time when she moved to stab him with the cure Slade caught her hand and twisted until she cried out in pain and dropped the syringe to the floor.

  
“Did you really think this would work kid?” Slade asked Oliver. Felicity could hear the sneer in his voice. “I’m faster than your pretty little girl here.” Felicity felt the blade slide gently up and down her neck, she resisted the urge to shiver in fear. “It’s time to make your choice” Slade said as he threw Felicity to the ground and out of the corner of her eye she could see Laurel being thrown down in a similar fashion. “Which woman lives and which one dies?”

  
Felicity forced herself to look up at Oliver. His face was pale and guilt stricken and in that moment she knew what his choice would be. She felt it in her bones as his blue eyes bore their guilt into her.

  
“I’m sorry Felicity” He said softly “It’s always been Laurel”

  
“Oliver please—” Felicity began before she felt a stabbing pain run through her. She looked down and saw the end of Slade’s sword sticking out of her chest.

  
She woke up with a scream and leapt out of bed before she took in where she really was. She was safe and sound back in her apartment. She walked on shaky legs back to her bed and sat down where she forced herself to take deep breaths until she felt calmer. This wasn’t her first nightmare since that night, not by a long shot. But this was the first one in which Oliver chose Laurel over her, where she died because of that choice. Felicity would be lying to herself if she said she hadn’t been worried about that when Slade held her captive. There would always be something between Laurel and Oliver. She’d feared that if Oliver had to choose that night there was a very real threat that he would have chosen Laurel, even if his ‘I love you’ had seemed genuine. Felicity couldn’t think about this anymore, she shook her head to clear her thoughts. She glanced over at the clock on her bedside table, 5:37am.

  
Well, she thought, might as well get ready for work.

  
It felt strange to go back to her morning routine for work as Oliver’s personal assistant. Not bad, in fact she was a little excited to go back to work at Queen Consolidated, it just felt odd to go back to her routine as if their whole world hadn’t been turned upside-down only weeks before. She needed to get used to the fact that they weren’t in danger anymore. Well, at least nothing more than their usual level of danger that is.

  
She picked up coffee on her way to work and met Oliver outside of the building. She was afraid seeing him would bring back memories from her nightmare, but instead she felt a surprising sense of peace at the sight of Oliver in a suit standing outside of his family’s business. It felt like coming home.

  
The two walked in together and made their first stop at HR to fill out some official paperwork. There was a dark haired secretary sitting behind the desk, Beverly, according to her name plate. Her eyes widened when Felicity and Oliver walked in.

  
“Mr. Queen!” She exclaimed before her eyes turned over to Felicity “And miss…”

  
“Smoak” Felicity finished. She wasn’t totally surprised this woman didn’t know who she was, she’d tried to fly under the radar as Oliver’s assistant as best she could.

  
“Of course Miss Smoak, how could I forget?” Beverly said with a sly smile on her lips. Felicity felt as if she’d missed the joke.

  
“Right” Felicity said ignoring the look on her face “Anyway, I believe Mr. Queen and I have some paperwork to fill out.”

  
“Well Mr. Queen’s paperwork was sent up to his office earlier this morning.” She looked down at her computer, typing away with her long nails “You should have been notified of it” She called out to a small red haired girl to come over and look at the computer.

  
“I’m sorry for the trouble Mr. Queen.” The red haired woman said looking up at Oliver “If you’d like to head up to your office while I work this out with your assistant I’m sure we can get it all squared away.”

  
Oliver opened his mouth to protest, but Felicity stopped him. “Go Oliver” She said softly “We shouldn’t both be late to the meeting. I’ll take care of this.”

  
She was grateful he recognized the sense in her words. He nodded his head and turned to leave. “I’ll meet you upstairs.” He said as he walked out the door.

  
Felicity turned around to face the two women at the desk. Beverly spoke first “I’m sure I sent you the information about the paperwork. Did you check your email?”

  
Felicity just bit her tongue and nodded.

  
“Hmm…Well that’s too bad, but like I said the paperwork is waiting for him in his office so if there’s nothing else I can do for you…?” Felicity didn’t like the tone of Beverly’s voice.

  
“Actually there is something. I need to fill out paperwork for my reinstatement as Oli—as Mr. Queen’s executive assistant.”

  
“Oh.” Beverly began typing on the computer once again “I don’t have anything here about files for you Miss Smoak.”

  
“I called this morning to make sure everything was set up. They said I just needed to come and sign a few documents.”

  
“Well I’m not sure who you spoke to, because I don’t have anything.” Beverly said curtly. Felicity was growing tired of this very quickly, but before should could start an argument with the secretary Beverly spoke up once again. “I suppose I could have Cynthia reprint and copy all of the documents for you and bring them to your desk this afternoon.”

  
Felicity let out a sigh “Yes. Thank you.” She saw Beverly hand a stack of papers to the red hair girl as she turned to leave. Felicity could hear the two women whispering as she walked out of the office.

  
“You’d think the personal assistant to the CEO would be good at her job.”

  
“Not if she got the job on her knees.”

  
“Or bent over a desk”

  
Felicity could hear the two women laugh as she rounded the corner and pressed the button for the elevator. She hit the button both harder and more times than necessary. She most certainly did not miss this part of working for Oliver. While she’d realized the necessity of swallowing her pride in order to put on the EA appearance it was still hard to bite her tongue when she could hear people talking behind her back. The number of times she caught the women in the office whispering and the men staring at her like she was a piece of meat was obscene. Still, she put up with it because she knew that how she and Oliver really spent their nights was worth it. She was able to make a real difference in this city thanks to Oliver. She’d follow him into hell, or Purgatory as the case may be, so she could let her pride go a little for him as well.

  
The elevator doors opened to the top floor where Walter and Oliver were waiting for her outside of the conference room.

  
“I’m sorry” She said walking over to the two men “Am I late?”

  
Walter placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “You’re right on time Felicity. It’s good to see you again.” Felicity had missed Walter. “I was just telling Oliver how happy I am to be working with the two of you.” He said.

  
“Yes, I’m sure it will be great and definitely better than working with Isabel. Not that I’m comparing you to Isabel, although if I were you’d definitely come out on top. I mean not on top on top, that is—”

  
“We should head into the meeting, or we’ll really be late.” Oliver said, successfully cutting off Felicity’s rant. She mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ to him as they all turned and walked into the conference room.

  
They went into the meeting together where Oliver, like a gentleman, pulled Felicity's seat out for her, she sat and smiled to herself as she set her tablet in front of her. At the very least Moira Queen raised a son with good manners.

  
The meeting went surprisingly well, at least as far as those things do. The board felt confident in Walter and Oliver's ability to lead the company in a good direction and everyone left feeling more optimistic about the company's future. Oliver and Felicity spent the rest of the morning in and out of meetings. After lunch Felicity finally sat down at her own desk for the first time that day. She'd barely been there five minutes before Cynthia from HR came into the office. "I have your paperwork Miss Smoak." She said setting the stack of files down on Felicity's desk. Felicity pulled the files in front of her and flipped through them before she realized Cynthia still hadn't left.

  
"Yes?" Felicity said looking up at the woman through her glasses.

  
"Does um...Mr. Queen need anything? I mean, while I'm already up here that is." Cynthia said while she stared at Oliver through the glass doors of his office.

  
Felicity had about enough of this woman. She put the files down and walked around her desk to stand in front of the red haired HR employee. "Mr. Queen is all set thank you. And Cynthia? I suggest that the next time you or Beverly want to insinuate that someone in this office got their job on their knees you should at least wait until they're out of earshot. It'd be awfully embarrassing if they'd heard you."

  
Cynthia just stared at her red faced and open mouthed. "I-I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean--"

  
"Yes you did" Felicity said softly "But you're not the first and you definitely won't be the last. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone what you said it doesn't matter anyway. Now unless you have anything else to discuss with myself or Mr. Queen?" Cynthia shook her head "Right then" Felicity said sitting back down behind her desk and looking through the paperwork once again. She could see Cynthia leave the room and board the elevators through her peripheral vision.  
"Did she really say that about you?"

  
Felicity jumped in her seat "Oliver! How long have you been standing there?"

  
"Did she really say that about you?" He repeated softly, ignoring her question and moving closer to her desk. Felicity looked down at her papers, more to avoid Oliver's gaze than anything else.

  
"It doesn't matter, she's not the only one who thinks it." Felicity said "Besides I knew what I was getting into when I took my job back."

  
"I meant what I said before" Oliver moved around to stand in front of her desk "You don't have to be my assistant if you don't want to. I know you worked hard to get where you are and I don’t want to take that away from you."

  
"You know I'm a hard worker, Diggle knows I'm a hard worker, what Cynthia from Human Resources thinks doesn't particularly matter." She looked up at Oliver "I'm fine, really."

  
He looked ready to protest before he realized there was no arguing with Felicity once she’d made up her mind. He let out a sigh before speaking “Alright. We’re pretty much done here for today and Walter said he’d take care of the rest. Why don’t you go home and get ready for the event?”

  
Felicity knew an opportunity when she saw one. She agreed and began to pack up her belongings. “I’ll see you tonight then.” She told Oliver as she walked out of the office “Oh” She said turning around and handing him a small stack of post-it notes “Don’t forget to return these phone calls before you leave.” Oliver just stared at her for a long moment before looking down at the notes in disdain. “Hey” Felicity said “I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job or anything, but the last time you ignored a bunch of phone calls Isabel Rochev took your company.”

  
Oliver looked up at her and glared at her for a moment before taking the stack from her hands and walking back into his office to return the calls.

  
Felicity went home and put the finishing touches on the tracking device, made sure her software was up to date and checked on the programs she had running back at the foundry. Once that was finished she began to get ready for the fundraiser at the museum. She wore one of her favorite dresses, a long cobalt blue gown with a slit running up the side. She switched out her glasses for contacts, but kept on her customary fuchsia lipstick and curled and pinned her hair to the side in order to cover the earpiece she had in. When all was said and done she looked in the mirror and felt good about her appearance.

  
She heard the sound of her doorbell ringing and opened the door to see Diggle standing on her front step in a suit. He smiled when she stepped outside “You look lovely Felicity.”

  
“Thank you” She said following him to the car; Diggle opened the door for her and she slid in beside Oliver.

  
Oliver’s eyes widened when she slid into the car, he looked her up and down before speaking. “You look beautiful Felicity.”

  
She felt a blush creeping up her cheeks “Thank you” she said softly. She was mesmerized by the look in his eyes. She wished he would look at her that way more, like she was something special. It never failed to make her stomach do somersaults when he did; sometimes he’d look at her and it felt like he saw nothing and no one else. Felicity felt herself blushing as she looked down at the tablet in her hands and focused on rechecking the device.

  
The rest of the ride to the museum was uneventful. When they arrived Diggle pulled up in front of the museum and Oliver stepped out of the car and walked around to open Felicity’s door for her. She thanked him as she took his outstretched hand in her own and stepped out of the car. Diggle said his goodbyes and drove around the back to take his post near the exit Felicity and Oliver planned to use. Oliver held out his arm for Felicity and the two walked ahead toward the line of photographers outside of the building. They all began to shout Oliver’s name as he approached and Felicity didn’t know where to look or what to do. How did celebrities always make this look so easy? She looked over to Oliver who, of course, looked perfectly at ease. He looked down at her and could see the confusion clearly on her face. He took pity on her and moved his hand to her lower back as he led her quickly to the door. Despite their lack of invitations they were immediately let into the event. Felicity thought, not for the first time, about how much it paid to be a famous billionaire in this town. It certainly made vigilantism much easier.

  
Felicity’s breath caught in her throat when she took in the sight of the event. The museum lobby was decorated with chandeliers and candelabras everywhere and there were marble statues littering the museum floor. The whole room had a soft, warm glow about it. There were guests mingling about and waiters carrying trays of hor’dourves and champaign all over the room and she could hear soft jazz playing from a band in the corner. Oliver and Felicity mingled for a bit. This mostly consisted of Felicity whispering names of stakeholders or other businessmen in Oliver’s ear while he charmed his way through conversations with people he couldn't pick out of a crowd.  
It was genuinely surprising to Felicity when she rounded a corner and nearly ran into Laurel.

  
“Laurel!” She said stunned.

  
Laurel gave her a half smile “Felicity” she turned to Oliver “I thought you two might show up here.” She reached into the bag by her side and pulled out a file that she handed it to Felicity “I got this earlier today.”

  
“Thank you” Felicity said, taking the file from the other woman. Felicity looked between Laurel and Oliver. She sensed tension between them. She definitely didn’t want to interrupt anything going on with them, so she made a poor excuse about looking at the file in the other room before walking away.

  
“You know Oliver” Laurel said watching Felicity slip out of the room “It’s pretty tacky to be dating your personal assistant.” Oliver didn’t have the energy to argue with Laurel tonight. He let out a deep sigh.

  
“What do you want from me Laurel?”

  
Laurel stared at him for a long moment before answering “Nothing” She said “I want nothing from you anymore. I see the way you look at her Oliver, I know that look.” Her voice got softer “You used to look at me that way once.” She searched his face for a reaction, but found nothing there. “But those times are gone now, aren’t they?” She shook her head “I’m done now, I can’t do this with you anymore. I’m giving up.” She let out a breath before leaning in to kiss his cheek “Goodbye Oliver.” She said before she turned on her heel and walked away without another word.

  
Oliver watched her go wishing he felt more sadness than he actually did. He felt the loss of a childhood love, the loss of something nostalgic and dear to him. But he didn’t feel the loss of a woman with whom he was in love. No, it was clearer to him now than ever before, whatever he felt for Laurel it was no longer the passionate love he felt in his youth. That time in his life was over.

  
“Oliver. One minute to guard switch” He heard Diggle announce in his ear. Oliver found Felicity standing by a table in the main lobby reading the file on Steinbach. He couldn’t resist sliding his hand along her arm as he leaned into whisper in her ear “It’s time.” He could see her shiver in response to his actions and it stirred something inside of him. No, he thought harshly to himself, he needed to crush those feelings before they grew any larger. He couldn’t afford to think of Felicity in that way, he couldn’t risk losing her, not for anything.

  
They made their way out of the lobby and, because of the guard change, had no trouble sneaking up a back staircase to find the room that housed the Rosewater Alchemy set. It was at the very end of a long hallway behind a set of double doors. Oliver deftly picked the locks and pushed the door open.

  
Oliver shut the doors behind him; he looked around and saw the set housed in a glass case on the opposite side of the room. Now it was Felicity’s turn to shine. She pulled up software on her tablet and with a few strokes of the keys and a smile on her face she announced the electronic security on the alchemy set was temporarily turned off, but it would reset in less than five minutes. All Oliver had to do was pick the lock and place the tracker discretely in the set in that time and they could be on their way. Oliver crouched in front of the glass case and began to pick the lock.

  
Wow, Felicity thought to herself, things are actually going according to plan.

  
“Guys we have a problem” Diggle announced in her ear.

  
Felicity blamed herself really. Pride cometh before the fall.

  
“What is it?” Oliver whispered harshly.

  
“Security cameras show a guard on the way” Diggle replied. Felicity was glad she’d thought to set him up with access to all of the security cameras before they arrived at the museum. “He’s checking the rooms in the hallway and he’s headed straight for you. You’ve got two minutes, tops.”

  
Oliver cursed under his breath and began to frantically pick at the lock. Felicity stood by the door and thought through the logistics of their situation before she came to a realization.

  
“Dig is there no other way out of this room?”

  
“The only way in or out is through the double doors. The window is too high up for you to safely jump out of.”

  
“And the guard is coming down the only hallway that’s through the doors and back to the lobby?”

  
Diggle cursed quietly “You two better start thinking of excuses” He said “Fast.”

  
Felicity knew what everyone would expect Oliver Queen to be doing in the back room of a museum with his assistant. She looked over at Oliver, he was almost done with the lock and it wouldn’t take him long to plant the device. Okay fine, she thought to herself, this might work.

  
“Dig how much time do we have?” She asked.

  
“About one minute, give or take. After this room he'll be checking yours next.”

  
Oliver’s battle with the lock was coming to an end as he pushed the final pin into place. Felicity knew she’d need to cover the sound of his work if they stood any chance of not being caught. She mentally groaned at what she was about to do.

  
She leaned against the doors, let out a soft laugh and moaned Oliver’s name. He looked over at her wide eyed.

  
“Felicity” He whispered “What are you doing?”

  
“Covering up your noise.” She said “He’s going to hear you breaking into the case when he gets close. Besides, it’s as good an excuse as any as to why we’re in here. Just be quick about it.” She said nodding to the case.

  
Oliver turned his attention back to the alchemy set. He pulled out the tracking device and got to work planting it on the set. He was incredibly distracted by the sound of Felicity moaning his name not 10 feet away from him. He found it annoyingly difficult to get the device turned on and placed in the right spot. Once he did he shut the case and took a look to make sure everything was as it should be. Satisfied, he crossed the room in three steps grabbed Felicity in his arms and planted a kiss on her lips.

  
She let out a small noise of surprise and tensed for a moment before giving in and wrapping her arms around him, pulling him closer. His hand traveled down to her thigh, his thumb rubbing circles on the bare skin. He pulled her leg up and she wrapped it around his hip, bringing him even closer. He ran his tongue along her lip, begging entrance and she relented. She felt fireworks go off in her mind, she was kissing Oliver. The moment she’d thought about countless times was finally happening, and it felt amazing.  
She felt him pull away and tug her lower lip between his teeth before moving down to her neck. She didn’t need to fake the sounds that were coming out of her anymore. He moved lips, teeth and tongue down her neck and over her collarbone. He tugged, teased and kissed the skin along her body and Felicity was certain she’d have a hickey in the morning. She felt her breath catch in her throat as his lips found the swell of her breast above the low neckline of her dress. She was fairly sure he could hear the sound of her heart nearly beating out of her chest.

  
She didn’t need to feign surprise when the guard shined his flashlight on them and asked what they hell they thought they were doing. Oliver sighed and rested his head on her chest for a moment before looking up and responding.

  
“We’re appreciating the aesthetic value of the antiquities.” He said with all of his playboy charm.

  
The guard looked unamused, he looked at Oliver for a few moments before his gazed turned to Felicity. He looked surprised by her as if she wasn’t Oliver’s usual “type”. The guard stared at her long enough that she began to feel uncomfortable.

Finally he spoke to Oliver “Get out of here before I throw you out of the event entirely.”

  
Oliver put his hands up as if defeated. He put his arm around Felicity and pulled her close “Let’s get out of here.” He said to her. She was helpless to do anything but nod before Oliver led her out of the room.

  
Once they got to the lobby she excused herself. She needed to clear her mind and get some fresh air. She walked out the nearest exit she could find, it was one that led to a side alley of the museum. She leaned herself against the wall and took a few deep breaths. What just happened in there? She took a few steps away from the wall and wrapped her arms around herself, the file still in her hands. She’d never imagined tonight would have led to that. She had no idea kissing Oliver, even under pretenses, would feel like that. There was no way he could have faked that, right? That was intense, and passionate and real. That had to have meant something—

  
Felicity was so distracted by thoughts of what just happened that she didn’t anticipate the man coming up behind her. She certainly didn’t expect to feel his arms wrap around her or to hear him whisper in her ear. “Keep quiet my angel”.

  
She didn’t expect to feel a needle slide slowly into her skin before everything went black.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say thank you to everyone who has read this! Also a big thank you to everyone who has left comments! I am so grateful for the positive feedback that I've gotten.  
> Secondly, I want to say sorry that this is a relatively short chapter. Originally chapter 3 and 4 were supposed to be one big chapter, but my schedule has been unimaginably busy over this past week. There was no way I could write all of that so I had to break them up. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to post anything this week, so while it's a short chapter know that I'm sorry and I'm working as hard as I can!  
> Also side note: nothing says 'cool' like being the person writing fan fiction on the train. Which, coincidentally, is where most of this chapter was written.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I look forward to continuing with this fic!

The first thing Felicity remembered becoming aware of was the feeling of something cold and solid against her cheek. Her eyes felt impossibly heavy as she tried to open them and take a look around the room. As she tried to bring her hand up to rub her eyes and force them to open she realized something was stopping her arm from moving.  
That caught her attention.

  
She tried to focus her energy on figuring out how to make her body move correctly. Her mind felt fuzzy and disjointed and for the first time in her life she couldn’t make sense of her own limbs. When she finally managed to open her eyes she took in the grim sight of a dark and empty warehouse. She was laying on her side against the cold concrete floor of the room.

  
Okay. She was in an abandoned warehouse. That was one mystery solved.

  
Her mind was feeling less fuzzy by the second and she managed to focus her energy on getting her limbs to move. She shuffled around until she succeeded in arranging herself into a mostly sitting position where she happened to get a good look at her legs. The realization that she was restrained by zip ties hit her like a ton of bricks and she mentally berated herself for not recognizing that sooner. That’s why she couldn’t move her arms or legs.

  
Alright. She was tied up with zip ties and laying on the cold concrete floor of an abandoned warehouse. That’s two mysteries down.

  
Only about a thousand more to go.

  
She heard a door creak open across the room and her head snapped in that direction. She strained to get a look at what caused the noise, but saw almost nothing from her vantage point on the floor. She heard footsteps approaching her direction and struggled to sit up as best she could to see who it was. The first thing she saw were black boots.  
The next thing her mind registered was a museum guard’s uniform.

  
Museum guard. Her mind tried to make sense of that for a moment, before clarity struck and she recognized the man as the same guard who caught her and Oliver. Her eyes traveled up to his face where dark eyes watched her every move. She wasn’t able to get a good look at him at the museum, what with everything else that happened, but she got a good look now as he walked toward her.

  
He had glasses, oily dark hair that was slicked back tight against his head, a long slightly crooked nose and a tightly controlled smile.

  
He set a metal tray down on a nearby table before he kneeled down in front of her “Hello Felicity” he spoke quietly as if to a frightened animal. Felicity uselessly tried to push herself further away from him where she found herself quite literally cornered against a pillar.

  
“How do you know my name?” She asked, in response to her question the man held up a broken earpiece that looked as if it had been smashed under his boot.

  
“Your friends were calling out to you.” He said simply.

  
Despite the broken communication link, relief flooded her at his words. Oliver and Diggle knew something was wrong, they were looking for her. She’d get out of this.

  
The man in front of her pulled out a knife and Felicity’s heart dropped to the floor. “You know” he said, inching closer to her, Felicity tried to pull away but she was trapped against the wall with nowhere to go. “When I saw you at the museum I couldn’t believe my eyes” He reached forward and took her hands into his “It was like you were a vision come to life” He brought the knife down to her hands and she let out a yelp of fear before he sliced through her restraints. He put the knife away and held up his hands as if to say ‘I won’t hurt you’. Felicity rubbed her surprisingly sore wrists as she stared at him in fear. She wouldn’t let him out of her sights for anything.

  
“What are you talking about?” She asked

  
His eyes widened as if he were shocked that she didn’t understand “You” He said incredulously “I saw you at the museum and you were this” He paused to think of the right words, when he found them he spoke wistfully “this golden ray of light, almost perfect as it floated about the room, dancing and shining in the air.”

  
Felicity felt as if she might be sick when the final piece clicked into place. Steinbach. Of course it was Steinbach. He must have posed as a guard to steal the Rosewater set. Oh God, and instead of that he found her. Her mind flashed to the images of his last two Starling City victims, painted gold and left for dead. She shook her head and fought back tears before looking him dead in the eye.

  
“I know who you are. What do you want from me Steinbach?”

  
She didn’t expect the genuine smile to cross his face. “You know who I am” He sat back on his heels and let out a laugh as he ran his hand through his hair “Don’t you see? This is perfect. It’s fate! I was meant to find you.” He said leaning back in toward her “I was meant to preserve you. You’ll be my gift to this world.”

  
A cold fear ran through Felicity and for once she could think of absolutely nothing to say.

  
Steinbach leaned forward and took Felicity's left hand into his. He turned it over and ran his fingers along her knuckles in a surprisingly intimate gesture. Felicity resisted every urge to yank her hand out of his and strike him as hard as she could. Suddenly, he took a pair of handcuffs from his side and strapped it around her wrist. He attached the other end to a pole against the wall, trapping Felicity in her spot. Felicity was shaking with fear by the time Steinbach backed away from her and went to the tray he'd set down. He began to methodically remove items from the metal tray and organize them on the table. He arranged everything very specifically and it struck Felicity that this was some sort of ritual for him. She forced herself to breathe, in through her nose for 4 seconds, hold for 7, out for 8 seconds. She did this over and over again until she no longer feared that she would be sick.

  
She had no idea how long she'd been unconscious after he took her, but she didn't imagine it was too long. Even so, where the hell were Oliver and Diggle? Felicity began to look around the room for something, anything, she could use to defend herself against Steinbach. If they weren't going to be here to save her, she'd just have to do it on her own.

  
Oh God, she really wished Oliver were here.

  
At that moment Felicity heard a loud crash and a grunt coming from the hallway. Her heart soared, please, please let that be Oliver. She could tell that Steinbach heard the noise as well because he looked up from his methodical work laying out what Felicity could only describe as torture devices, and turned his head in the direction of the sound. Wordlessly he took hold of a syringe, filled with Felicity could only imagine what, and walked toward the sound.

  
That's when Felicity saw it, sitting on the table practically within reach, a scalpel. All she had to do was position herself so she could reach out and take hold of it. She leaned her body as far forward as she could go, but she was just shy of reaching the scalpel. She willed herself to grow just a little taller, stretching as far as she possibly could so that her fingertips just brushed the edge of the blade.

  
Please, please, please, she thought to herself, I really need this. Please just reach.

 

 

Oliver had been standing in the lobby of the museum, after Felicity excused herself, when he heard a muffled and unfamiliar voice in his ear. His whole body tensed at the sound, but when he heard Felicity shout he found himself halfway across the lobby before he even realized he’d moved. He rushed through the exit he’d seen her use only minutes before to find the alleyway empty. He saw no trace of her anywhere in the alley and he ran around the corner to see if he could find her. He called out her name as he ran only to stop dead in his tracks when he saw the file she’d been holding discarded on the ground. She’d never leave something like that laying around.

  
The man’s voice, the shout, the sudden disappearance. It all meant one thing: she’d been taken.

  
Oliver broke into a sprint toward the parking lot only to see a car rush out onto the main road.

  
“Diggle!” Oliver shouted “Diggle she’s been taken!” He could hear the panic in his voice as he watched the car drive away.

  
“I’m on my way” Diggle said without question.

  
“Hurry he’s getting away!” Oliver bellowed. He looked desperately around for some other form of transportation, something that might catch up to the car.

  
The man parking his motorcycle nearby certainly didn’t expect to have it stolen by Oliver Queen that much was clear. Oliver barely had the presence of mind to throw an apology over his shoulder as he rode away. He’d deal with the consequences of this later.

  
Right now Felicity was the only thing that mattered.

  
“Diggle I’m on a motorcycle and I’ve got eyes on him.” Oliver said as he weaved dangerously through traffic.

  
“Good” Diggle’s response came though “Keep it that way. I’m right behind you.”

  
Oliver followed him through the streets as discretely as he possibly could.

  
He watched the car pull up to an abandoned warehouse just outside of the Glades.

  
“Diggle he’s taken her to a warehouse” Oliver stopped the motorcycle at a safe distance and kept his eyes tight on the car. A large bald man walked out of the warehouse, followed closely by two other men, all of whom held large guns. The three men walked up to the car and spoke to the man who stepped out of the driver’s seat. He saw the driver hand a package to the large bald henchman. Oliver strained his eyes to get a look at the package and what he saw made his blood run cold. It was the alchemy set from the museum.

  
“Diggle its Steinbach. He took her” Oliver said before giving Diggle the rest of the information about how to find the warehouse.

  
Oliver fought every urge within him to run straight into the building without a weapon or backup. He was desperate to make sure Felicity was safe and unharmed. When he saw the large bald man pick up Felicity’s limp body out of the backseat of the car he threw caution to the wind. He was two steps away from the motorcycle and walking toward the warehouse when Diggle’s voice rang in his ear.

  
“Oliver I’m here. Come get the gear.”

  
Oliver collected his gear from the trunk of Diggle's car and pulled on his hood. He walked into the warehouse, making sure to take in as much of his surroundings as possible. The building was mostly empty with the occasional dim light flickering in the hallway. Good, he thought to himself, more shadows to hide in. Diggle had gone around back to use a difference entrance, while Oliver had gone in what he assumed was the main entrance. He'd expected to run into at least one of the henchmen he'd seen outside, but to his surprise he found no one.

  
When he heard someone breathing loudly behind him he practically smiled. If the guy was this obvious, it was going to be an easy fight. Oliver spun around and heard a satisfying THWAK as his bow made contact with the man. It was the bald man from outside trying to sneak up on Oliver. Blood poured from where Oliver's bow crashed into his nose which only served to enrage the large man further. He struck out against Oliver, an attack which Oliver dodged easily enough. The two danced around each other exchanging blows, and dodging attacks. That is until Oliver managed to land a blow that knocked the larger man unconscious.

  
Oliver had been so preoccupied with fighting the large henchman that he didn't see Steinbach behind him with the syringe until it was too late. Darkness overtook him before he had time to react.

 

Oliver woke up tied to a chair. He fought against the restraints, but they were well tied and he could hardly move. He looked up and saw Steinbach standing in front of him. “Where is Felicity” Oliver asked. He found it surprisingly difficult to speak. Whatever drugs he’d been dosed with still flowed through his bloodstream making his mind feel fuzzy and his body feel disjointed.

  
Steinbach spoke quietly “She dead.” He said “I’ve saved her” The pride in Steinbach’s eyes made Oliver want to snap his neck with his bare hands.

  
“You’re lying” Oliver said through gritted teeth. Steinbach kneeled in front of Oliver in order to make eye contact. Oliver felt as if the room was spinning, and swore he could see two of the man in front of him.

  
“Why would I lie about something so important?” Steinbach asked, seemingly incredulous. “She’s been saved and preserved for the world. I’ve made her my golden angel now. Don’t you see?” He asked “She was a nobody before I found her. She was nothing, absolutely nothing—”

Despite his drugged state of mind Oliver was still able to land a solid head butt against the smaller man. Steinbach rocked back on his heels, taken completely by surprise. Oliver felt a rage building up inside of him that he hadn’t known he could still feel.

  
“Don’t you ever say she’s nothing” He growled.

 

Steinbach stood up and fixed his composure, brushing dirt off himself and straightening his shirt.

 

“It doesn’t matter now.” He said looking up at Oliver. “You failed her. You weren’t good enough for her and I was the one who saved her.” He said before walking out through the door.

  
In the other room Felicity had managed to reach far enough to grab the scalpel.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual thank you so much for the kind responses! I'm really grateful for all the nice and helpful feedback. Sorry this chapter is just a little late, it's been a really crazy past few weeks for me. Hopefully you like where this is going! Once again I intended to make this chapter and the next one into a single large chapter, but that proved to be a herculean task. Hopefully breaking the chapters up will give me more time to explore the characters instead of rushing to post something on time. With any luck I'll be able to post on time next Wednesday! Thanks again!

Felicity had the scalpel tucked into her hand and hidden as best she could. She knew she wouldn’t have much time once Steinbach returned before he noticed the missing instrument. She’d need to act quickly or face the consequences. She heard one of the side doors to the room creak open slowly and her heart jumped up into her throat.

She listened as footsteps approached her from behind, all the while she was trying to stop her heart from beating out of her chest. You can do this Felicity, she told herself, just stab as hard and as quickly as you can. She thought about aiming for the throat, but she wasn’t sure she’d have the time to aim, or the stomach to actually do it. As the footsteps got closer she took one last deep breath and lashed out with the scalpel in hand.

She made contact as the blade hit skin and cut through. What she didn’t expect was to hear a familiar voice groan and curse after her attack.

“Ah, ow! Goddamn it!” Diggle’s voice cut through the air sweeter than music to Felicity’s ears.

“John!” She exclaimed “Oh my God, I’m so sorry! Are you alright?” She asked hurriedly. To Diggle’s credit he didn’t even look at his arm once he saw Felicity, he just knelt down in front of her and looked at her face closely.

“Felicity, are you hurt?” He asked. She shook her head, suddenly finding herself short on words. “Good” Diggle responded “Let’s get these cuffs off and get you out of here.” He inspected her wrist a little closer, careful not to agitate the already raw skin there. “You wouldn’t by any chance know where the key is?” He asked. She shook her head once again, unsure of the key’s location. She feared Steinbach kept it on his person, but refused to face the reality of that fear by speaking it aloud.

Diggle stood up and looked around for any possible sign of the key. He went over to the table upon which Steinbach organized his instruments. He moved things around and looked under every piece of equipment on the off chance that maybe, just maybe—

“Aha!” Diggle exclaimed holding a small key in his hands. Felicity let out a small cry of surprise and relief at the sight of the key. He wasted no time in unlocking the cuff from her wrist and pulling her hand free. Felicity held her hand close to her chest and inspected the raw skin there for a moment. Her wrist was puffy and sore, but nothing that wouldn’t heal in a few days.

“Thank you John” She whispered, quickly wrapping her arm around him in a hug. When she pulled away from him a thought occurred to her “Where’s Oliver?” She asked.

It was at that moment that Steinbach returned.

He walked into the room, holding a gun in his hand that he hadn’t been holding before and followed by one of his three lackeys. This one was tall, thin, fair haired and most importantly holding a very, very large gun.

Diggle pushed Felicity back behind him and pointed his own gun straight at Steinbach.

“Don’t come any closer.” Diggle ordered, standing his ground.

Steinbach looked almost amused “Even if you were to get off a shot and kill me before Johnson here stopped you, he’d only kill you afterward anyway. You can’t stop me and you won’t get out of here alive unless I want you to. “

Diggle held his ground, gun firmly pointed in Steinbach’s direction.

“Just put the gun down, take a step back, and let Felicity do what is right.” Steinbach spoke in cool, measured tones. Felicity was incredibly shaken by the fact that he didn’t sound crazy. She’d always had a picture in her mind of what crazy was _supposed_ to look like and Steinbach did not fit. She wanted him to be raving and psychotic and instead he was calm and calculated.

Diggle still hadn’t moved.

“I don’t particularly care if you live or die.” Steinbach told Diggle “It means almost nothing to me. You can either leave here and live, or die trying to stop me. Either way Felicity is mine.”

Diggle bristled at his words, more at his casual use of Felicity’s name than anything else.

“I’m not leaving and I’m not letting you take Felicity.”

Steinbach looked to his lackey, Johnson, for a moment. Maybe Diggle thought that Steinbach was bluffing, or maybe he really was willing to die for Felicity. Either way, Felicity knew that Diggle wasn’t backing down and if he didn’t back down he’d be shot without hesitation. Steinbach had given her no reason to believe he wouldn’t kill Diggle if he got in his way.

“Wait” Felicity called out stepping from behind Diggle, she walked around him with her arms up in front of her in surrender. “Don’t hurt him. Please.”

“Felicity don’t—what are you doing?” Diggle asked sharply

Steinbach turned to Felicity, his attention on her now, and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s up to him now, whether he lives or dies. You’re the only one that matters to me, his life means nothing.”

Felicity ignored how much that statement terrified her and offered a bargain to Steinbach instead. Her life for Diggle’s; she’d agree to let him have her if he let Diggle go safely.

Steinbach considered this for a moment before agreeing on the condition that he take Diggle’s gun, phone and his keys.

“Felicity what are you doing?” Diggle called out as Johnson came over to take away his keys. Diggle held the gun straight up to the thin man’s face as he approached. “Don’t you even think about coming any closer.”

“John please” Felicity begged “I can’t let him kill you. Please, just do this for me.”

“I won’t let him take you Felicity” Diggle replied.

Felicity looked him in the eye “Please” was all she said. Diggle must have seen the desperation on her face, the pure terror at the thought of seeing him shot in front of her because he sighed and pulled out his phone and his keys.

Diggle looked straight at Steinbach “I will stop you” He said.

“Without your car or your phone you’ll need to walk to the police. There’s no one around this area for miles, we’re in an abandoned part of the Glades. Even if you do tell the police they won’t get here in time. There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

Diggle said nothing in response, just glared at Steinbach with hatred in his eyes. Then Johnson led Diggle out of the room.

“I want to see him get out of here safely.” Felicity demanded. Steinbach sighed as if her request were unusual and annoying. He walked over to a laptop sitting on a nearby table, typed in a few keys and pulled up security footage from outside of the warehouse. Felicity could see Diggle being led away by the skinny henchman before Steinbach shut the screen with more force than necessary.

“See?” He said “Perfectly unharmed.” He moved back toward Felicity and stood directly in front of her. He ran his fingers through her hair and played with the ends of the strands. “So lovely…” he whispered.

At that moment Johnson returned to the room. “Shouldn’t we just kill that guy?” He asked “Make sure he don’t talk about us?”

Steinbach let out a sigh as if he were disappointed in a young child. He pulled out his gun, turned and shot Johnson point blank in the head.

Felicity heard screams echoing around the room before she realized they were her own.

“I can’t stand rudeness.” Steinbach stated before he turned back around to look at Felicity.

She was shaking now, and she was pretty certain tears were falling on her cheeks as she tried to control her emotions. She’d never seen anyone killed like that before. She’d seen death, it was inevitable when working with Oliver, but she’d never seen death like _that_. Never so close. She felt cold, deep, deep within her bones she felt a freezing sensation take over her body.

Steinbach looked confused by her tears.

All Felicity could see was the blood slowly poor out of Johnson’s head.

Steinbach chose that moment of all moments to try and kiss her and after everything she’d seen Felicity realized most people would react by giving him what he wanted. Felicity Smoak reacted by slapping her captor across his face as hard as she could. She’d never be able to explain the motivation behind her action, it was almost as if her hand acted of its own accord.

Steinbach’s head turned sharply to the side as her hand made contact with his cheek. She’d knocked his glasses askew and he readjusted them as he looked her in the eye. He looked almost proud of her. She felt sick.

“I knew you had fight in you” He said “There’s a strength in you. I’m going to enjoy preserving that.” He moved back over to the laptop he’d used to show her Diggle’s escape. He opened it once more and pulled up a different screen before turning it around so Felicity could see. “However,” he continued “I need insurance that you’ll behave for me.” He pressed the final button and a security camera feed came up on the screen.

On the screen was a video feed of Oliver tied to a chair and held at gunpoint by Steinbach’s third lackey. Felicity felt her heart drop straight through her chest to the floor. Oliver was held captive, oh God what if he was hurt? What if Steinbach killed him because of her? Before she could open her mouth to beg Steinbach to let Oliver go, to leave him unharmed, Steinbach barked a sharp order through a walkie-talkie to the man with the gun.

“Do it”

Without any hesitation the man with cracked the butt of his gun sharply against Oliver’s face. Felicity jumped forward and screamed, but Steinbach grabbed her in his arms and held her tight. He put his lips against her ear and spoke.

“You need to see this.”

He held her back and forced her to watch as Oliver was mercilessly beaten by the lackey. The man hit Oliver with the butt of his gun a few times before he tired of it. He quickly switched to using his hands for a more vicious and personal approach. Felicity watched in horror as Oliver was repeatedly punched, slapped and kicked. When his chair fell sideways the man took to kicking Oliver squarely in the chest.

“Please” Felicity said, turning around in Steinbach’s arms “Please tell him to stop. I’ll behave. I’ll listen. Please don’t hurt him anymore.”

Steinbach’s face was hard, his expression impassive. He looked up at the screen where Oliver was still being beaten, Felicity could see a line of blood come from Oliver’s split lip. Steinbach licked his lips and looked down at Felicity still in his arms.

“Stop.” He said into the walkie-talkie.

The man in the video feed got in one more kick before he backed up and resumed his old position as if nothing happened. As if Oliver’s blood weren’t literally on his hands.

“Sit him back up.” Steinbach commanded, the man obeyed and hauled Oliver’s chair back into sitting position. “Give him another dose.” The man picked up a syringe and despite Oliver’s protestations slid the needle easily into Oliver’s shoulder.

Felicity watched as Oliver’s body went slack in the chair. Please fight Oliver, she thought desperately, please live.

“Now” Steinbach said cupping her cheek with his hand. Felicity felt bile rise in her throat at such an intimate gesture, his very touch made her sick and she wanted nothing more than to push herself as far away from him as she could. Anything would be better than standing here impassive, she wanted to fight or scream or cry or run away. Then her mind flashed to Oliver, beaten, broken and tied to a chair.

She stayed where she was.

“If you behave, he’ll live. I have no need to kill him. Just behave for me, okay?” Steinbach’s voice was softer than it had been before, almost pleading. Felicity just nodded, not trusting herself to speak. “Good girl.” He said. He took her hand and led her over to a stand that was shaped almost like a cross. Felicity could see ropes hanging from the arms of the stand, she realized that he would tie her to those. “Now” he said “stand here and take off your clothes.”

Felicity blanched. She tried to respond but it resulted in her making shocked sputtering sounds. Oh God, what was he going to do to her? She backed away from him as far as she dared, all the while begging him not to make her do it. “Please don’t touch me” she begged terrified of what he would do. Her back was pressed against the cross shaped stand now and she had nowhere else to go.

Steinbach, for all she was begging, wasn’t even looking at her. He was looking at his work table, completely destroyed by Diggle’s searching. “Please” he said “Do you really think I would defile you in that way before I begin my work?” He said it so casually, as if he were asking her for the time.

In truth, Felicity had no idea what he was capable of, or what he planned to do to her as part of his “work”. Thankfully, his question was rhetorical and he moved to rearrange his work table without waiting for an answer.

“Take off your dress.” It was a command he gave without turning around to glance in her direction.

Felicity thought for a brief moment about fighting him. His back was turned to her and he clearly thought of her as harmless. This fleeting thought went by when she saw the gun in his hand. Not to mention if she failed, he was certain to kill Oliver. She slipped the straps of her gown off her shoulders and let it fall in a pile on the floor. She looked down at the blue gown crumpled and bunched around her feet. It felt like she’d put it on days ago, hell a lifetime ago. This used to be one of her favorite dresses and now she’d forever associate it with this monster. That is, if she got out of this alive at all.

Felicity stood in her underwear shaking in fear.

 

Oliver was grateful that the lackey who had beaten him was dumb. Really, if this man had any sense at all there was a large chance Oliver wouldn’t make it out of this alive. When the needle slipped into his skin Oliver was prepared. He was in more control of his body and as a result was better equipped to handle the drugs. He was able to fake a reaction to the drugs hoping the lackey would take it as a real response. As it was, the man was a complete idiot and believed it without question. Oliver felt much better about his chances of getting out safely.

He felt even more secure in his chances when he realized his ropes had loosened when he’d been knocked over and the man hadn’t even noticed. Oliver could get out of this, all he had to do was wait for the opportune moment. That moment came when the man looked down at a computer screen. Clearly something on the screen intrigued him, because a lewd smile crossed his face and he focused his attention fully on the computer.

Oliver broke out of his restraints and attacked the lackey. Despite his drugged state, the man was easy to knock unconscious. He was untrained and unprepared and Oliver dragged his limp body over to the chair and retied the ropes strapping the man in. Only after the man was unconscious and securely restrained in the chair did Oliver risk a glance at the computer that has so fully distracted him.

He reeled back at the sight. Felicity. She was alive. Oliver had stubbornly refused to accept Steinbach’s words, desperate to believe that Felicity was unharmed. Now the proof was in front of him and he felt relief flood through his body down to his bones. She’d been stripped down to her underwear and Steinbach was in the process of tying her to some sort of cross. Oliver saw red for a moment before his training from the island kicked in. He needed to act quickly without his emotions getting in the way.

He looked sharply around the room and saw his bow tossed in a heap in the corner next to his quiver. Good, he thought, this will be over soon.

 

Oliver walked slowly down the hallway, unsure of what Steinbach would do to Felicity once he was spotted. He needed to be careful, he couldn’t risk her life. Not for anything. He took his steps one at a time, careful to remain quiet. His whole body ached and while the pain was dulled significantly by the adrenaline it was not enough to block it entirely. On top of that the drugs coursing through his system made him feel dizzy and cold. He was far from his best, but it had to be enough to save Felicity, _it had to_.

He entered the main room of the warehouse slowly and poised to strike. What he saw was a shock to him, though he’d never let his face betray his emotions. Felicity had been tied up and Steinbach had begun to paint her body gold. He’d managed to cover the right side of her body from shoulder down to her thigh and across her chest with the gold paint. Oliver notched an arrow and drew his bow.

“Get away from her”

Steinbach froze in his spot, clearly surprised by Oliver presence. However, when he turned around and saw Oliver’s pale and shaking state, he smiled.

“You’re in no condition to fight, archer.” He gently put his brush down, but stayed in front of Felicity “Judging by the shaking in your arms I’d say the drugs still have an effect on you. I doubt you’d be able to shoot me even if you wanted to, not unless you don’t mind also hitting our sweet girl here.”

Oliver loosed the arrow. It missed Steinbach entirely, but then again, that was his intention.

Felicity heard rather than felt the arrow slice through the rope tying her left arm. She knew not to move as another arrow flew through the air and cut the rope on her other arm. Suddenly she was able to wrench herself free from her restraints. As she did so, Steinbach reached for the gun on the table.

At that same moment the large lackey rushed into the room and tackled Oliver to the ground. Oliver had hoped the man would have been unconscious for longer, but that clearly wasn’t the case. Oliver’s bow flew out of his hand and he hit the ground with a groan. He rolled quickly to the side as the large man brought his fist down where his head had just been. Oliver’s strength was far from his best and it was all he could do to dodge the henchman’s attacks. His only hope was to get the bow that had been knocked from his hand when he fell.

Meanwhile, Steinbach had the gun firmly in his hands. As soon as he pointed the gun at Oliver Felicity acted on instinct. She turned around and wrenched the arrow out of the stand to which she’d just been tied and stabbed Steinbach as hard as she could in the arm.

He let out a howl of pain and dropped the gun to the ground. The distraction was all Oliver needed. While the large man looked to see what’d happened to his employer Oliver was able to grab his bow and loose an arrow into his leg. In an instant the large man crumpled to the ground, howling in rage.

Amidst the commotion Felicity realized Steinbach had fled the room.

“Oliver he’s gone!” She called out across the room. Oliver looked sharply around the room taking in everything before he realized she was right. Steinbach had used the commotion to flee and escape from the warehouse. With Steinbach gone and the henchman effectively taken out Oliver realized the present danger was gone and they could escape.

He ran over to Felicity and grabbed her hand “Are you hurt?” she shook her head no “Can you run?” she nodded yes. He held onto her hand tightly as he ran with her out of the warehouse.

They ran all the way to where Oliver had parked his motorcycle and Diggle’s car was left abandoned. He thought about taking the motorcycle back, but he realized that seeing Oliver Queen dressed as the Arrow and a half naked Felicity Smoak riding on a motorcycle together would cause quite a stir. He made an instant decision. Oliver didn’t hesitate before using his elbow to smash the glass window of the car and once he did he was able to reach in and unlock it. He reached into the car and pulled out a spare hoodie for Felicity. She gratefully accepted the shirt and pulled it around herself, still shaking. He wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and console her, but he knew they weren’t out of danger yet.

So instead he got to work hot-wiring the car. When he heard the sound of sirens approaching rapidly in the distance he was surprised, although Felicity was not. She explained to him that Diggle escaped and must have found a way to alert the SCPD as to her whereabouts. Dealing with the police was the last thing Oliver wanted to do right now. With a satisfied _thrum_ the car roared to life and both Oliver and Felicity leapt in and Oliver drove away just before the police arrived on the scene.

 

Once back at the Foundry Oliver and Felicity hurried into the safety of their hideaway. For the first time since he found her Oliver was finally able to make sure Felicity was okay.

“Felicity” Oliver said softly reaching for her hand. He didn’t miss the way she flinched at from his sudden movement. “Are you hurt?” He asked looking her over. He couldn’t see any serious damage, a few scrapes and bruises here and there, and even then not too much. Still, Oliver had no idea what had been done to here while he was captured.

Felicity pulled the sweatshirt close to her body and shook her head. “I’m alright Oliver.” She looked over at her computers “But he’s still out there. Somewhere that _bastard_ is alive and running around and what if he finds someone else to hurt? What if he takes his anger out on an innocent person? How am I supposed to live with myself if he kidnaps another woman and subjects her to his awful—“

Felicity was cut off by Oliver’s sudden embrace. She hadn’t expected to feel his arms suddenly wrap around her and pull her close.

“You spent hours kidnapped by a psychotic madman and the first thing you do is worry about what may or may not happen to strangers because you got away.” He said softly while taking a step back from their embrace.

Felicity felt a blush creep up her cheek and she stared down at her hands.

“I can’t let him get away Oliver. It’s personal now.”

Oliver nodded his head “I agree. When he took you, he made this very personal. We’ll find him Felicity I promise.” Oliver took in her appearance, she looked far past exhausted. “But for now, you need to rest” He said softly. “SCPD are on the scene and Dig’s with them and for the time being you’re safe in the Foundry.”

Felicity nodded her head, knowing she wasn’t quite ready to be alone in her apartment yet.

Oliver picked up his bow and turned to walk out of the Foundry.

“Where are you going?” Felicity asked.

Oliver turned around to face her “To look for him.” He said simply.

“Not in your condition you’re not.” Felicity challenged walking back over to him. She stood toe to toe with him, her head held high for the first time in hours. “I saw what they did to you on the monitors. You were beaten and drugged within an inch of your life.”

“I’ve had worse” He said turning to leave.

“Oliver no” Felicity reached out and grabbed his arm “You said yourself we need to rest.”

Oliver turned to face her, his eyes suddenly intense. Felicity felt her breath catch in her throat at the look in his eyes. “Felicity…I can’t” He paused and took a breath “I can’t stay and do nothing. I need to look for him. I need to find him and stop him.”

“Oliver” Felicity replied softly “You’re hurt and exhausted. Please just stay and let me take a look at your injuries.”

Oliver sighed, knowing Felicity would be as stubborn as him. “Just a perimeter check.” He compromised “I need to know that we’re completely secure.”

Felicity took a step back and nodded. Oliver let out a breath and reached for her hand. He gave it a single squeeze and let his thumb rub a small circle over her soft palm before he grabbed his bow and walked out of the Foundry.

Felicity wrapped her arms around herself as she watched him go.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, I'm able to post a chapter early! I had some time this week and I was able to get more writing done than I expected, which was a relief. I really appreciate all of the kind feedback, it means a lot to me! I'm not sure if Chapter 6 will be the final chapter since there's a chance I'll break it up into two chapters instead because I have a lot planned. Hopefully, I'll be able to write it all in a week and post it next Wednesday! Anyway, please leave comments and let me know what you think. I hope you like where this is going, and please enjoy!

Felicity wasn’t sure how long she stood there after Oliver left, just standing at the door with her arms wrapped tightly around herself. A part of her wanted to cry when he disappeared through the door and out of her sight, but instead her body just settled into a sort of numb feeling. She felt a sinking sense of nothingness creep into her body. No fear, no sadness, no joy…just numbness. Sadness she could handle, fear and anger were all familiar to her, but this? This numbness was new and it worried her.

She wanted Oliver at her side and she wanted his arms around her again. She wanted him to comfort her. She wanted him to pull her close and kiss her and tell her everything would be okay, to reassure her that she was safe and alive. She wanted him to make her feel alive. But he didn’t comfort her that way, he didn’t touch her that way. She would never be that for him, she would never do _that_ with him.

He didn’t want her like that, she was his secretary and his partner and that was it. Slade even said it to him, Felicity wasn’t Oliver’s type. He went for the strong women and right now, Felicity felt anything but strong. She pulled her arms around herself even tighter, as if she feared she might collapse from the inside out.

That’s when she noticed the gold paint smeared across her chest. Her mind flashed back to Steinbach carefully painting her body and she thought she might be sick for a moment.

Shower. She absolutely needed to take a shower right now.

She rushed into the bathroom of the foundry and turned on the water in the small shower installed there. She didn’t even wait for the water to get warm before she stripped what little clothes she had left on and stepped into the spray. The freezing water was a sudden shock to her system, but the cold gave her something to focus on. She closed her eyes and focused on the sensations of the water hitting her body at a thousand different points, slowly warming as she stood beneath it. She tried to keep herself from watching as the gold paint slid slowly down her naked from and into the drain by her feet.

She failed. When her eyes caught the paint pouring sluggishly into the drain she felt panic begin to rise in her chest. She scrubbed and scratched roughly at her skin desperate to remove any trace that Steinbach had left on her. When her sore wrist went under the now scalding spray of water she barely registered the pain. She was breathing fast now, and her movements were wild and desperate. She frantically scrubbed every last bit of paint off herself until her skin was raw and red from the effort. When she was finished her legs gave out and she found herself suddenly sitting on the floor of the shower with her knees pulled up to her chest.

With her arms wrapped tightly around her knees she finally took a moment to catch her breath. The numbness she felt earlier was gone, replaced by tears that flowed down her cheeks indistinguishable from the spray of the shower. She no longer felt numb, instead she felt shame, guilt, sadness, fear, anger and a hundred different emotions she couldn’t even name. Sitting by herself, crying, on the floor of the shower stall she felt alone. Suddenly, the shower no longer felt like such a good idea.

Felicity stood slowly, letting her surprisingly sore muscles stretch as she turned off the shower. When stepped out and grabbed one of the spare towels to wrap around herself, she looked down at her discarded bra and panties lying next to Oliver’s hoodie and realized she had no spare clothes. She mentally berated herself for not having a spare set of clothes in the foundry, it had just never seemed necessary. Until now, that is.

With a resigned sigh she gathered the undergarments and put them back on. It wasn’t until she’d pulled her arms through the hoodie and was zipping it up that she caught the scent of Oliver for the first time. She was almost overwhelmed by how comforting his scent was. It struck her, not for the first time, how unlikely her relationship with Oliver was. Before they met he was just a legend to her, the billionaire playboy who was lost at sea and, amazingly, returned home. She couldn’t even imagine him as a real person, he was just a story. Then he walked into her office where he gave her a broken laptop and a halfhearted lie and she gave him information. Then he kept walking into her office, over and over until one night he appeared bleeding in the backseat of her car. Suddenly, he wasn’t a story anymore, he was a real person.  A very real, complicated, haunted, _stubborn,_ passionate and brave person who had taken her life by storm. Suddenly he wasn’t a story at all, he was _Oliver_. Oliver Queen, her friend and partner and…and someone she couldn’t imagine her life without. She pulled the hoodie closer to herself and, for a moment, breathed in the comforting scent of him.

She shook herself out of her trance. Steinbach was still out there and she needed to find him. She walked over to her computers, curled up in her chair and began to run as many different scans, tests, traces and hacks as she could think of. By the time she was finished she had as much of Starling covered and searching for him as she possibly could. The programs would run in the background and alert her if there were any possible tips.

All she had to do was wait.

Between the exhaustion from the last few hours and the warmth of the shower still settling within her body Felicity found herself drifting off to sleep in her chair before she even knew it.

She dreamt she was in the foundry with Oliver. More importantly, she dreamt she was sitting on the med table in the foundry with her legs wrapped around Oliver and his lips pressed firmly to her neck. She had one hand pressed against the table supporting her weight and the other hand clutching his back as she moaned into him. His mouth worked magic against her neck as he bit and sucked the skin there, but she was desperate to feel his lips against hers and she turned her head toward him capturing his mouth. He responded eagerly, his lips slanting hungrily over hers as his hand came up to cup the side of her face. She could not help the moan that escaped her throat as he caught her lower lip between his teeth, tugging gently. She titled her head back as his lips moved down her neck and along her collarbone. He sucked and kissed the skin along there and she felt her breath hitch when he found a particularly sensitive spot.

“Oh, _Oliver_ ”

When she opened her eyes Steinbach was staring back at her with a wicked grin on his face.

“Do you like that my little angel?” He asked as his hand trailed along her thigh.

She screamed and pushed him away from her as hard as she could. Unfortunately, it did little good as he hardly moved an inch. She dropped her legs down and tried to scramble backwards, but found she had almost no control over her body. She felt like she’d been drugged by him all over again. She felt helpless.

Suddenly there was an arrow in her hand, she didn’t question it as she threw her arm forward desperate to get him away from her. The arrow landed squarely in his chest, straight through his heart, a killing blow. When he lifted his head, it was Oliver’s wide blue eyes staring back at her in shock.

He looked down at the arrow in his chest, confusion written plainly on his face. When he looked back up at her she could see the betrayal in his eyes, the anger and shock at what she’d done.

“Felic…ity” Each word he spoke sounded like an effort “Wh-Why? How…could you?”

He fell forward then, crashing into her. She could feel the warm blood seeping onto her hands and her chest as he lay dead on top of her. His wide, unblinking eyes were the last thing she saw before she woke up screaming. She flung herself out of the chair before she caught herself on the edge of the desk, her hand clutched tightly against the table as she stood shaking. It’s not fair, she thought to herself, Steinbach's in my head. How could he be haunting me? She walked over to the nearby pillar and slid down the smooth surface until she found herself once against sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest.

 

Oliver hated walking out on Felicity when she had looked so scared and so broken. A part of him desperately wanted to stay in the foundry and hold her until she no longer looked like she'd fall apart. However, another part of him, a larger part, was desperate to see Steinbach brought to justice. Oliver was determined to make him pay for what he'd done. Steinbach took Felicity, and he deliberately caused her pain and suffering and Oliver couldn't...he just couldn't let that go. When Oliver brought her into this he was determined to keep her safe, but now...now he wasn't sure that was even an option anymore. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Perimeter check. He would do a perimeter check and make sure no one could get to her inside the foundry and then he'd go in and...

He had no idea what he'd do when he went back in. He wanted to comfort her and let her know that she was safe now. He wanted to make sure she knew that he'd never let her get hurt again. He really wanted to go in and tell her that Steinbach was no longer a threat, that he would never be able to hurt her ever again, but that wasn't true. Steinbach was still out there and Oliver wouldn't rest-- couldn't rest, until he brought him to justice. 

Oliver moved silently around the perimeter of the foundry, checking every nook, cranny and shadow he could find. Felicity was too important to leave anything to chance. When he heard a call come in through his comm he crouched into a shadow to answer.

"What is it?"

"Hey" Diggle's voice came in "It’s me. I'm just leaving the precinct now. I told the police I saw a shady looking deal go down in the Glades. They said they didn't have the man power to hunt down every drug dealer lurking in this city. However, when they realized it was the missing alchemy set from the museum--" Diggle gave a short laugh "Well that sent them running. Leave it to the SCPD to care more about white collar crime than the real danger in the Glades." The slight bitterness in Diggle's tone wasn't lost on Oliver. When Dig spoke next his tone was quieter "Tell me you got her out of there safe, Oliver"

"She's safe, she's in the foundry now."

There was a sigh "Good, and where are you?"

"Checking the perimeter. I need to make sure she's completely secure in there. I can't let him get to her again Diggle I just...I can't."

"Hey man, she's safe." Diggle reminded "But she's just been through hell and back, okay? Felicity may be brave, but I bet the last thing she wants is to be left alone right now."

Oliver sighed, of course Diggle was right.

"I'm gonna stop by her place and pick up a few things she asked me to grab before I head back. I'll see you two in just under an hour." With that Diggle hung up and Oliver heard nothing but static from the comm-link. 

Diggle was right, Felicity shouldn't be alone. But Oliver wasn't sure how to comfort her. He felt an overwhelming sense of guilt at not being able to protect her, for being the reason she was out in the field in the first place. He should have been able to keep her safe and he failed. How could he possibly comfort her?

Besides, there was no way someone as broken as him could ever begin to help Felicity heal. She was a shining beacon of light, a bright spot among the desolation in his life. All Oliver could ever be was a darkness that dragged her down. Caring for her...loving her...it was selfish and he knew it. She deserved so much better than he could ever give her. As much as she believed in him, as much as she trusted him there would always be a part of him that was a killer. There would always be a part of him that was dark and twisted and he couldn't expose her to that. She didn't deserve that. 

Still, he would try to help her. After all, since the moment he met her she’d succeeded in helping to turn him into a better man, now it was his turn to return the favor. If he could help her recover from this at all, he'd do whatever it took. 

His mind went back to the moment Steinbach told him Felicity was dead. For that brief moment his world crashed around him. A world without Felicity in it? It was unfathomable. She was too good, too kind, too brave and—

Oliver sighed. He never planned for Felicity, he’d spent all that time on the Island planning for his return home. When he returned he’d had everything about being the Arrow figured out, he knew what he needed to do and how he needed to do it. But he never planned for one blonde IT woman to turn his whole world inside out. To turn him into a better man, a hero. No, he never planned for Felicity, but now? Now he couldn’t live in a world without her.

He stood up and walked back into the foundry.

 

When he walked in the room was still dark, lit mostly by the light emanating from Felicity’s computers. He saw her curled up with her back against the large pillar and her head resting on her knees. His heart ached to see her so closed off from the world. If there’s one thing Oliver knew, it was the look of someone too afraid of the world to close their eyes.

He put his bow down on the table and walked over to her.

“Hey” He said gently. When she lifted her head her eyes were distant and haunted and Oliver felt a physical pain in his chest at the sight “How are you doing?” It wasn’t great, but it was the best he could come up with. He wanted to tell her that she’d be okay, he wanted to hold her and whisper reassuring words in her ear. Instead, he sat down next to her and leaned his back against the pillar. He kept clenching and relaxing his hands in front of him, hands that wanted to pull her close and stroke her cheek.

“I can’t sleep” She said softly next to him, with her chin resting on her knees. “I tried. I fell asleep in my chair…but…” She let the sentence hang unfinished, but Oliver knew. He knew what it was like to be too afraid to close your eyes and face your demons.

When he finally spoke, his voice was soft “I’ve had nightmares too. When I first got back from the island my bed was too soft, and the city was too loud—” He took a deep breath and continued “I couldn’t sleep and when I did I was haunted by every awful thing that happened to me during those five years. Felicity, I know what it’s like to suffer that way and you have to know” he took another breath and clenched his jaw “You have to know that I never wanted that for you. When I brought you on I promised Diggle that I would keep you safe and I broke that promise.” He looked over at her, her wide blue eyes were unblinking as she stared at him. His control slipped in that moment and he reached forward and cupped her cheek with his hand. She leaned into his touch and he couldn’t resist stroking small circles with his thumb “I wanted you to live, Felicity” He admitted “Not just survive.”

He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead, savoring the feel of her alive and real in his hands.

Felicity felt her skin catch fire when Oliver’s lips met her forehead. She wanted more desperately than ever for him to help her forget everything that happened. His hand was cupping her cheek and his lips were on her skin and her need for him was almost too much. When he leaned back and took a look at her he must have seen the look on her face, because his expression suddenly changed. His eyes grew darker and for just a second his breath caught in his throat. His eyes flicked down to her lips for just a moment and after that Felicity couldn’t really say who moved first.

Suddenly, his lips were crashing into hers. It wasn’t tender or gentle, instead it was rough and desperate and exactly what Felicity needed in that moment. It was a way for them to realize they were alive, _she_ was alive. She hadn't died at the hands of a psychotic madman, she was here and she was real.

Oliver moved over her, pressing her down onto the floor of the foundry and when his teeth tugged at her lip she let out a small gasp. He used that as an entrance and brought his tongue into her mouth, causing her to moan into him. She wrapped her arm around him and pulled him closer as she explored his mouth with her own tongue. His hand slid from its spot on her knee up her leg to rub circles along her thigh. Suddenly, she was very, _very_ aware that she wore only her underwear and Oliver’s large sweatshirt. His hand left trails of fire wherever it went and his rough, calloused palms felt incredible against her skin. His mouth moved from hers and he began to kiss along her jawline, she let out a small hum of approval as he did so.

However, when his mouth made its way to her neck the memory of her dream crashed into her like a wave. The image of Steinbach kissing her flashed through her mind for only a moment, but it was enough. She froze beneath Oliver, just for a second, but a second was all he needed to sense the change in her mood. It was as if he suddenly realized where he was and what he was doing. He jerked away from her as if he’d been struck and leapt to his feet. He let out a curse under his breath and ran a hand roughly through his hair.

“Felicity I—“He began, bringing his hand down to his side “I…I’m sorry. That was a mistake, I shouldn’t have done that.”

His words hurt Felicity more than she would have expected. Mistake. She was a mistake. Kissing her was a mistake. He didn’t mean it. He didn’t want it. He didn’t want her.

Before she could formulate a reply, her computer began beeping. She said nothing as she rushed past Oliver to check on her programs, when she pulled up the data she saw there had been a hit.

“I’ve got him.” She said to Oliver “The software spotted him on a security camera outside of a bank. He’s headed west, but I’ll be able to track him via security and traffic cameras for the next few miles. We know his location and…” She began typing and watched as the camera zoomed in on him “Yes. He’s carrying the Rosewater set with him. We can track him with that.” She looked up at Oliver “We can stop him.”

Oliver stared at the screen for a long moment before nodding. “Good” He said turning around to grab his bow. “You stay here and keep an eye on him while Diggle and I go put an end to all of this.”

“What?” Felicity said walking quickly over to him “No. I’m not going to stay here and play damsel while you and Diggle go off and fight. I’m coming with you.”

“Felicity” Oliver said turning around to face her, his tone filled with warning. “It’s not safe for you out there.”

“What makes you think it’s safe for me in here? Oliver, I appreciate that you want to keep me safe, but that’s not how this works. What if you find Steinbach hiding in a building and you need to disable the security networks, or what if I need to hack into something and I can’t do it remotely? There are too many variables. If I stay here _you’re_ not safe out there.”

“Felicity…” His tone was still warning, as if he hadn’t listened to a word she said.

“Oliver, you’ve never stopped me from going on a mission before.” She argued.

“You’ve never been the target before!” Oliver yelled and Felicity stepped back, surprised by his sudden outburst. “Felicity, Steinbach wants you dead and he wants to be the one to do it. He’ll stop at nothing until he’s killed you himself.” He paused and took a deep breath, when he spoke again he was much calmer than before. “I can’t risk losing you, Felicity, you’re too important.”

“Oliver…” She said gently, her eyes searching his face, he looked haunted and desperate. “You’re not going to lose me, I promise. But I can’t let my fear stop me from fighting back against him, you’ve never let your fears stop you from doing what’s right.”

She was wrong. Oliver couldn’t put the words together, but she was the exception, she was always the exception. He never let his fears stop him from doing anything, until right now. He was so afraid of losing Felicity that he couldn’t bear the thought of her going out to fight Steinbach. However, she was right about being the only one with the technical skills to take him down. Oliver knew she needed to join them, he knew that if it were any other mission he wouldn’t even question having her come along. Still the thought of her dying at the hands of Steinbach, it almost made him want tell her no, to stay in the foundry and wait until it was over. Instead, he gave a small, curt nod of his head.

“Okay” He said quietly “We’ll leave as soon as Diggle gets back.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My computer died earlier this week, so I was afraid this chapter would be late, but I managed to get a lot done in the last two days and it's finally finished! Before I say anything else, I just want to warn people that the end of this chapter gets a bit...explicit, so please note that if it isn't your thing!   
> Secondly, I want to thank everyone who read this and especially the people who left kudos and comments! The feedback was so amazing and I'm incredibly grateful for the kind responses. I hope you like where this story went and how it ends.   
> Enjoy!

They contacted Diggle and he returned to the lair a short while later, with an extra set of clothes in hand for Felicity. In between that time, however, Oliver and Felicity busied themselves with preparing for the mission. They hardly spoke a single word as Oliver dressed and readied his weapons while Felicity organized, updated and finalized her technology. The tension in the air was palpable and Felicity was certain Diggle could feel it as soon as he entered the Foundry.

She was grateful for the clothes he brought, and she hurried into the bathroom to put them on, happy to escape the suffocating tension in the main room. When she opened the bag Diggle brought and looked inside her heart melted for a moment. Always thoughtful, Diggle had grabbed more than just a dress for her to change into. In the bag was her black dress with pink flowers, a light jacket, a pair of flats, her makeup bag, a contact case and her glasses tucked safely away in their case. She'd been desperate to take her contacts out ever since she woke from the nightmare in her chair and slipping the glasses on her face made her feel more normal than she'd felt in hours. She took a look in the mirror and, with a satisfied sigh, saw her spectacled self staring back at her. After that she put on the dress, then the jacket and pulled her hair into a ponytail. The only thing left was her lipstick. Applying the fuchsia color to her lips felt like putting on armor. When she was finished she took one last look in the mirror and a small smile tugged at her lips. She felt stronger, she felt like Felicity again.

She no longer felt small and afraid, instead she felt confident and capable; ready to take on the man who held her hostage. Ready to fight back.

She could do this. 

She really hoped she could do this. 

She carried Oliver's grey sweatshirt in her arms as she walked out of the bathroom.

Oliver and Diggle looked up as she exited the bathroom. A small smile tugged at the bodyguard's lips.

"You look like yourself again." He said gently. He turned his head and looked back at Oliver who was standing near the exit with his bow in hand. "Oliver told me you'll be joining us."

Felicity tilted her chin up, ready to defend her reasons for going, but Diggle spoke again before she could.

"I'm glad, I'm sure we'll need you. Come on," He motioned for her to follow "We should get going."

Felicity was relieved that she didn't need to argue with Diggle and she followed him silently out of the foundry.

They stayed mostly silent as they drove through town tracking Steinbach. Felicity double and triple checked her software and gave Diggle updates, but beyond that none of them spoke much. They were all tense and exhausted, it was nearing dawn and none of them had had any rest. Well, aside from Felicity, but she’d argue that if you woke up screaming from sleep it wasn’t exactly _restful_. Finally, they pulled up to a dilapidated old building not far from where Felicity’s computer spotted Steinbach earlier.

“We’re here” She announced as Diggle parked the van as close as he dared to the building. Diggle looked out the window at the run down structure “Gotta say, this guy’s sure got a thing for hiding out in old warehouses.” He remarked.

“Let’s go” Oliver said stepping out of the van. Diggle followed shortly after, grabbing the rest of the gear and falling into step behind Oliver. Suddenly, Oliver turned around and reached his hand into the open window of the vehicle resting it near Felicity’s arm.

“Hey” He said, searching her face “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I’ll be fine, Oliver” She said. She was glad her voice felt stronger than she did. “Just stop him, okay?”

A muscle in his jaw ticked, but Oliver just nodded his head and started to turn around.

“Oliver” Her voice was smaller this time and Oliver immediately turned on his heel to face her. “Come back safe.”

He almost smiled, he really did. The ghost of it flicked across his face for a moment before he reached into the car and took her hand in his. “I promise” he said before giving her hand a light squeeze and walking away from the car.

Felicity watched until he and Diggle walked into the warehouse and out of sight.

She turned her attention back to the tablet in her hands. She had a thermal reading of the building on display; it showed two people in the warehouse. One was circling around the back, Felicity assumed that was a guard, and the other was stationary in the main room. That was Steinbach, she was sure of it.

“He’s in the main room” She said into her communication link “Make the first left as soon as you go in.”

 Oliver and Diggle did as she said and rounded the first corner as they entered the building. A rush of cool air hit them as they entered the wide open main room. Steinbach sat in the center of the room methodically grinding some kind of gold powder in a mortar and pestle.

Oliver raised his bow and aimed at the man. It would be so easy to put an end to him right here and now. A part of Oliver, one that he wasn’t proud of, wanted desperately to loose the arrow. It would be so easy to just kill him and end it all.

“Thermal shows you guys in the room, is he there?” Felicity’s voice cut through the air pulling Oliver out of his trance. Oliver lowered his weapon slightly, he couldn’t do it. Not with Felicity listening.

“Steinbach” Oliver growled “Stand up”

Steinbach looked up for the first time since they entered the room. He looked amused “You do work fast” He said, setting the mortar and pestle aside and standing up “I’ll give you that.”

He stood slowly and Oliver could hear Felicity’s breath hitch in the comm when Steinbach spoke. Oliver could only imagine the effect hearing Steinbach’s voice was having on her.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t shoot you right now.” Diggle spoke up from behind Oliver.

Steinbach leveled Oliver and Diggle with a hard look.

“Can she hear me?” He waited a beat before speaking again, evidently uninterested in an answer “Felicity” he called out “You have nothing to be afraid of. Can you see that? I’m giving you a gift. I’m giving you the gift of glory and eternal youth. Because of me you’ll be young and beautiful forever!”

Oliver heard Felicity speak through the comm “I’ll take old age and a ton of wrinkles, please.”

Her voice was a little strained, but her attempt at humor helped ease the some of the tension from Oliver’s body.

“I’m going to save you” Steinbach said “Or die trying” he opened up his palm, one that Oliver hadn’t realized was shut and reveal a detonator.

Oliver blanched. There was a bomb. He rigged the building to blow.

Oliver tried to do the calculations in his head. How big would the blast need to be in order to hurt Felicity? He thought for a moment before cursing himself. God damn it, _she_ was the genius, not him.

Steinbach still didn’t know Felicity was nearby, that might be their only chance. If they were lucky she’d be able to disable the bomb from the van and if they weren’t lucky….well, Oliver didn’t want to think about that.

The three men stood at a standoff; one with a bow, one with a gun and one with the keys to a bomb.

“Well” Steinbach said “It seems we’re at a bit of an impasse.”

“Do you really think” Oliver said slowly “That a bomb is going to scare me off? You took Felicity and you hurt her. I’m not walking away from this now.”

Felicity felt her stomach drop when Oliver spoke. A bomb. That’s what Steinbach meant? This was bad, very, very bad.

“Oliver” She said while typing away furiously on her computer “If there’s a bomb you and Diggle _need_ to get out of there. I can’t find any trace of it anywhere, which means it’s entirely offline. I can’t disable it from here.”

“How do we know you’re not bluffing” Diggle asked, gun still raised high.

A broad smile crossed Steinbach’s face “You don’t.”

Felicity searched through every software she had running looking for any trace of the bomb. That’s when she saw it on the thermal feed; the second person she’d seen moving around in the back of the building wasn’t on patrol, he was guarding the bomb. He’d moved away from it now and was positioned on the side of the building, facing the street. She pulled up security footage from the building across the way and saw that he was distracted and smoking a cigarette.

It was now or never. In that instant she made a decision.

She was going to disable the bomb manually.

 

Oliver kept his gaze firmly on Steinbach. The man had a sort of frantic and deranged look in his eyes and Oliver could see him spiraling fast. He began talking about chemistry and the bomb he’d rigged.

“Everything comes from nothing and we’re all waiting to go back to that. What you and most other people fail to see are the interconnected movements of atoms throughout our universe. That’s all a bomb really is: a way to bring everything back to nothing. In fact” He said raising his arm “I’d be doing the universe a favor by pressing this button right now…”

But he didn’t press the button, instead he kept speaking “All I’m trying to do is create something beautiful before I return to that state of nothing. I want to leave something precious behind.”

“By killing innocent women?” Oliver asked with hatred in his voice.

“I’m an artist...a - a - a scientist and a visionary!—”

“You’re a murderer!”

“Perhaps” Steinbach conceded with a sly smile “But I can tell you’ve taken lives yourself, archer. So what does that make you? I don’t think we’re as different as you’d like to believe.”

“I’m nothing like you.” Oliver spat

“Does it help you sleep at night,” Steinbach began “To tell yourself you’re better than those that you’ve killed? Does your conscience live free to think that you’re nothing like the men whose lives you’ve taken? One way or another you’re going to kill tonight, I can see it in your eyes. You’ve known true hatred. You’re not that different from me, you’re a killer at heart.”

Oliver opened his mouth to argue, but when he saw a movement from the corner of his eye he looked over and saw the same man who’d beaten him up earlier walk in to the room with a gun to Felicity’s head.

Honestly, Felicity was mad at herself for getting caught. She’d been so careful. She was able to sneak around the building without being spotted and make it to the device. She even managed to disable the bomb without being spotted. Her heart was racing out of her chest as her fingers worked with the wires. She silently prayed that she wouldn’t unplug the wrong one and set it off. When she watched the timer blink twice and then go blank signaling the bomb had been disabled she finally let out the breath she’d been holding.

That’s when she felt the gun pressed against the back of her head. A man’s voice told her to get up and start walking and, frankly, she was in no position to argue.

She watched as Diggles eyes grew wide and all the blood drained from Oliver face when she entered the room. She felt her lip begin to tremble at the look of fear on their faces and a cold dread began to fill her body.

“I caught her disabling the bomb.” The man said by way of explanation “I ought to blow her fucking brains out for—” Felicity felt the muzzle of the gun press tightly against the back of her head for just a second. She looked over at Oliver, but she hardly saw him move a muscle. She dimly registered that he’d fired an arrow before she hit the ground with startling force.

Oliver hadn’t thought, he’d just reacted. When the man threatened to kill Felicity his world went blank and he reacted without even meaning to. He’d fired two arrows into the man’s chest, the force of which knocked both the man and Felicity to the ground.

When Steinbach let out a howl and frantically pressed the button on the detonator, to no avail, Oliver fired another arrow; this one landed in his shoulder. Steinbach crumpled to the ground, hitting his head as he did so and falling unconscious.

Oliver crossed the room in three steps and gathered Felicity in his arms. He cupped her cheek with his hand and searched her face. Felicity could see the frantic look in his eyes, the desperation to know that she was unhurt. She nodded slightly just once before she saw him let out a sigh of relief.

He looked over his shoulder back at Diggle, who was checking Steinbach’s pulse.

“He’s alive” Diggle said simply

“Good” Oliver replied. “Get Felicity out of here, make sure she’s safe. I’ll take care of him and meet you both back at the foundry.”

Felicity didn’t want Oliver to leave her side, instead she wanted him to come back to the foundry with her and Dig. But they needed to end this. Oliver needed to end this and Felicity understood that. So she said nothing as Diggle helped her to her feet and walked her back to the van.

Oliver tied Steinbach up and alerted the police as to his whereabouts. He’d wait there until they arrived, just to be certain that all of this was finally over.

Steinbach had been right. Tonight the Starling City news would report that the Arrow killed again for the first time in months, but Oliver wouldn’t regret it for a single second. Felicity was safe and alive. That was the only thing that mattered.

 

Diggle said nothing the entire way back to the lair, for which Felicity was grateful. She didn’t have it in her to talk about what had just happened, and small talk was simply out of the question. So they sat in companionable silence for the entire drive. By the time they got back the sun had risen over the tops of the skyscrapers and bathed the city in a golden light.

It was over, Felicity thought, it was an incredibly long night, but it was finally over. She felt like she could breathe again for the first time since she set foot in the gala, which felt like a lifetime ago.

When she walked into the foundry she went straight into the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face. She gripped the edge of the sink tightly and took a few deep, calming breaths. She wouldn’t feel right until Oliver came back. She needed to see him walk into the lair safe and sound. She needed him to tell her that it was all over. Then she’d feel okay.

She took a moment to assess the damage that had been done to her body in the past 12 hours. She had a few new scrapes and bruises to add to her collection, but there was nothing major. When she caught her reflection in the mirror she looked up. Her lipstick was mostly gone and what little left she had on she wiped away with the back of her hand. She took her hair out of the ponytail and ran her fingers through it a few times before pulling it back into the familiar style. She opened the door to the bathroom and saw Diggle standing near her computers on the phone. He hung up the phone before putting it away and scrubbing his hand across his face.

“Everything okay?” Felicity asked quietly as she walked over to him.

“Yeah” Diggle said “That was Lyla. She has a doctor’s appointment this morning and I’m supposed to go with her.”

“You should go Dig. Don’t miss the appointment because of this, Oliver will be back soon and I’ll be fine until—” She stopped talking when she heard the sound of Oliver coming into the foundry.

Dig gave a short laugh “Guess it doesn’t matter now.” But he let out a small sigh before speaking again “You two gonna be okay if I leave?” He asked. Felicity nodded and flashed him a reassuring smile. Diggle walked over to Oliver who was standing in the doorway and gave him a pat on the shoulder; the two men exchanged brief nods before Diggle walked out of the foundry. Oliver turned his eyes over to Felicity and for that one moment her whole world focused in on him. She rushed across the room and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

“Tell me it’s over” She said softly with her face pressed into his neck.

He wrapped his arm firmly around her “It’s over Felicity. You’re safe now.”

She pulled away from him and took a step back. “Thank you.” She felt as if a weight had finally been lifted from her chest.

She turned and walked over to the med table drumming her fingers along the metal surface. Oliver could see a line of worry still etched into her face.

“Hey” he said walking over and resting a hand on her arm “What is it?”

She thought about denying everything for a moment, but she didn’t have the energy left to lie to Oliver. A thought had been tugging at the back of her mind ever since this began and she finally gave voice to it.

“I can’t help thinking that none of this was about the Arrow, I mean not really. Steinbach…he saw me at the gala, which yeah we were at for vigilante type purposes, but still” She paused for a moment “He didn’t take me because of you. He could have just as easily seen me walking home or to the store and nothing would have been any different. Except-“ She flicked her eyes up to Oliver who was standing close with his hand still on her arm “Except you might not have been there to save me. Thank you for that, by the way.”

Oliver stared at her in that intense way that sent a thrill straight down her spine and into her toes. She always felt instantly out of breath when he looked at her that way. However, Felicity couldn’t help but give voice to the one other issue that was plaguing her mind.

“Oliver, I also wanted to say I’m sorry” She said quietly while tucking a stray hair behind her ear “I know that you’re trying to be better and I got myself into trouble again. You had to kill someone because of me…I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m sorry I put you in a position where you had to kill again. I wasn’t thinking about the consequences when I—”

Oliver moved forward and put his other hand on Felicity’s shoulder, instantly silencing her. She’d never understand how such a simple gesture from him could make her speechless.

“Felicity I meant what I said to you months ago. It wasn’t a choice.” His head dipped down as he looked her in the eye “I’d never let anything happen to you.” He took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling before speaking again, a small smiling crossing his face “You came out of nowhere and you…you completely surprised me. I was so lost when I came back from the Island, it was as if I’d never even left. Then I met you and you have spent every day since then making me into a better man. Felicity you were the only one who told me I could be more than a killer. You were the one person who believed in me when everyone else lost faith. I couldn’t do any of this without you. And before she left Sara…she told me that I needed someone to bring out my light.” He looked at Felicity’s wide, unblinking eyes before speaking again “It’s you. Felicity you are my only chance to be a force for good in this world.”

Felicity was shocked; she could hardly take in what Oliver was saying. She found herself pushing her glasses up her nose and rambling before she even realized she’d spoken.

“I mean, I don’t really know how I could help you be a force for good when it seems like the only reason you’ve killed anyone lately is directly because I can’t seem to stop getting myself into dan—”

Felicity didn’t expect Oliver to cut her off with a kiss. No, nope certainly did not see that one coming.

His mouth captured hers as his hand slid from her shoulder to cup her cheek. A shockwave went through her body at Oliver’s touch, at the feel of his lips against hers. She lifted her hand to rest it against his chest, feeling the play of muscles beneath his leathers. She could feel the heat radiating off of him and it sent a thrill to her to be this close to him. She felt him run his tongue along her lower lip before she abruptly pulled away from him.

“Wait, wait” She said softly trying to gather her thoughts. Her heart was racing in her chest and she found it difficult to catch her breath. “I thought you said it was a mistake to kiss me.”

Oliver looked ashamed for a moment, his head dropped and his eyes rooted to the floor.

“I’m sorry. I thought…”He paused and took a deep breath. Felicity could see that he was just as affected by their kiss as she was. “I tried to convince myself that you were safer if we weren’t together. I thought if I pushed my feelings down and pretended that there was nothing here,” He looked down at Felicity and noticed a flush creeping up her cheeks. It affected him maybe more than it should have “I thought I could keep you safe. But these last few months, hell, these last few hours have shown me that we’re never safe. As long as we keep doing what we do, there’s never going to be a guarantee that something won’t happen. But you were right, what happened tonight wasn’t about the Arrow. Felicity, you’re always going to be in danger and I can’t change that. What I can change is letting myself have feelings for you, and letting myself act on those feelings.” His hand came up to cup her cheek once again. Felicity said nothing; she just stared at him for a moment. They’d always had a connection, an ability to speak without speaking and this time was no different. She silently told him that she agreed and that she wanted him too. She didn’t trust herself to use words.

His lips found hers again only this time it was more desperate. His hand made its way to her hip and she was hyper aware of the way his fingers trailed along her body. She moved herself closer to him feeling his heat soak into her skin. She felt his tongue slip into her mouth and she moaned lightly at the way he made her feel.

She pulled away with a small smile playing at her lips. “So just to be clear, it wasn’t a mistake to kiss me?” She’d hoped to sound less affected by his kiss, but she’d challenge anyone to sound completely normal after _that_. Oliver grabbed her and lifted her onto the med table in one swift motion, standing himself between her legs.

An impish grin crossed his face before he spoke “No. It most definitely was not a mistake to kiss you. I’m sorry I made you feel that way” His hand trailed from her knee up her leg where it reached the hem of her dress. His fingers played with the hem, knuckles dragging lightly over the sensitive skin of her thigh. Heat pooled in her core at the simple act “But” he continued, voice dropping “I promise I’ll find a way to make it up to you.” The look in his eye was almost predatory, almost and Felicity felt a shock go straight down her spine and into her stomach at his words. It was almost embarrassing how turned on she was right now and he’d hardly touched her at all.

He kissed her again, pulling himself closer to her as he did so. She loved the way his stubble felt against her skin as he moved to kiss along her neck. She brought her hand up and took her hair out of the ponytail before she moved them to rake her nails through Oliver’s short hair. In response, he let out a moan against the sensitive skin of her throat and her breath caught at the sound. Okay, she’d definitely need to remember that one.

His mouth made its way down her neck to the collar of her dress. He nipped and sucked along the exposed skin there causing small sounds of pleasure to escape Felicity’s lips. Suddenly, his mouth was against hers again and she felt herself being lifted into the air. She quickly wrapped her legs around his waist and held onto him tightly. She was only half aware of being moved across the foundry as Oliver’s hands were gently unzipping the back of her dress. Cold air hit the newly expose skin along her spine, causing a shiver to course through her body. She looked down at him and for a moment their eyes met. His eyes were full and dark and the look on his face sent another thrill through Felicity’s body. Really, the affect he had on her was just unfair.

Oliver was no less affected. Every sound she made, every small gasp or moan was almost too much for him to handle. He hadn’t been this excited by a woman in a very long time; he hadn’t cared about someone like this since he was first with Laurel. Felicity was everything he needed, and he wanted to make damn sure she knew it. He laid her gently on the cot in the back of the foundry, holding himself above her.

He moved up to kiss her once again while his hands worked to slide the floral dress slowly off of her body. When he moved away and let his eyes take in her state he realized she was still wearing the same undergarments she’d had on when Steinbach held her hostage. Oliver could see the bits of gold paint staining her bra and the edge of her panties and a surge of protectiveness flowed through him. He hated that she had to go through that. He didn’t want anything about _him_ to ruin this moment between Felicity and himself. His mouth moved down her chest and he kissed the swell of her breast above the cup of her bra. His hands traveled slowly up her legs and along her torso until they reached her breasts. He squeezed them gently through the fabric and traced their outline before reaching around her and unhooking her bra in one quick motion. She lay bare and exposed beneath him and Oliver could see the nervousness in her expression. He leaned down and brought his lips to her ear, kissing the skin below it gently before whispering.

“You’re beautiful

She turned her head to look at him and the sincerity in his eyes made her heart melt. She leaned forward to capture his lips with hers and reveled in the feeling of his tongue exploring her mouth. He pulled away sooner than she would have liked and she almost let out a moan of frustration before his lips made their way down to her breasts. _Oh,_ okay. Nope. No complaining from her. He captured one of her nipples in his mouth and swirled his tongue around dragging a deep moan from her lips.

“ _Oh_ Oliver”

He lavished the other breast with the same attention before moving down her torso. When his lips made their way above the line of her panties she was so desperate for him she could cry. He teased her for a bit, kissing along her navel and down her thigh before he moved over to her hipbone. With one hand he grabbed one side of her panties and he captured the other side with his mouth. In what felt like tantalizingly slow motion, he dragged the underwear down her legs, keeping eye contact as he did so. When his lips made it back up her thigh she was wound so tightly her hands were fisted in the sheets on the cot.

“Oliver, _please_.”

His face was pressed against her thigh, so close to where she needed him, and she could _feel_ him laugh.

“Patience” He said “I hear it’s a virtue.”

She wanted to make a witty response, she really did, but instead she let out a sort of high pitched keening as his mouth found her center.

“Oh God, _Oliver_ , yes!”

He worked her over expertly, as if they’d made love hundreds of times and he knew exactly what she liked best. She found herself making sounds she didn’t even know were possible. She knew, she _knew_ he’d have a smug look on his face as soon as this was over and— oh, _oh_ , never mind. Let him be as smug as he wants. Oh, he earned it. She felt her orgasm building inside of her quickly and all it took was a single finger slipping inside of her to send her over the edge. She saw stars and she was vaguely aware of calling out his name over and over like a prayer as she came.

When she came back down to reality she was aware of Oliver planting light kisses along her stomach. After a few seconds adjusting to reality and trying to catch her breath she finally looked down at Oliver.

“How is it possible” She asked “That you are still fully clothed?” She leaned forward and kissed him as she slid the green leather off his torso. She ran her nails lightly over his scarred torso reveling in the growl that emanated from his throat as she did so. Her lips moved from his mouth down his jawline and along his chest. When he worked out in front of her she often found herself fantasizing about kissing his scars. She paid special attention to all the marks that littered his torso. One day she hoped to learn the stories behind his scars, but she’d wait until he was ready to tell her.

Her hand moved down his body to the edge of his pants and she skimmed her fingers along the hem before dipping her hand inside. She felt the hard length of him pressed against her hand and a thrill went through her. He sucked in a breath before leaning forward and kissing her hard.

“Felicity” He said through clenched teeth “I want….I want you, but I don’t have a…” he trailed off and Felicity felt herself blush.

“Oh” She said softly, eyes flicking up to his “It’s ok, I…I’m covered.”

Oliver didn’t say another word; he just nodded once before he crashed into her with a desperate and passionate kiss. She pulled her hand from inside his pants and he practically ripped them off his body. He laid her gently back down on the cot and held himself above her kissing along her body. Felicity took in his naked form and was impressed, he certainly did not disappoint.

Her mind finally caught up with reality and it struck her what was happening. She was lying naked in the foundry with Oliver on top of her. _Oliver_. Oliver who had just given her one of the best orgasms of her life not ten minutes before. Oliver who she’d fantasized about for the last two years. Oliver Queen, one of the most incredible, frustrating and amazing men she’d ever met in her entire life. This was real, it was happening.

She snapped back to reality when she felt him lining himself up at her entrance. She wrapped her arms around his neck and looked him in the eye and she could see him silently begging permission.

“Please” she whispered softly

He kissed her tenderly before pushing himself into her for the first time. Felicity gasped into his mouth at the feeling. He was so much _more_ than she expected, it felt amazing. She took a moment to adjust to the feeling of him inside of her, stretching her. He set an intense but not unwelcome pace as he thrust into her.

Oliver wanted to make this last as long as possible. He wanted to give Felicity everything he could. However, she was so much better than he expected and every sound she made pushed him closer and closer to the edge. He was losing himself inside of her fast and in a split second decision he gathered her in his arms and flipped them both over. She was now on top of him straddling his body. She continued with the pace he set, rolling her hips to meet his thrusts. A small smile played on her lips before he leaned forward and kissed her zealously. He needed to feel her lips and to taste them on his. He was getting close to the edge and he wanted her to come with him. He reached down between then and stroked her clit as she rocked her hips with his. To his surprise she came much faster than he expected. The sound of her screaming his name as he pushed inside of her was too much and he went over the edge. They came together and when it was over Felicity’s face was buried in his neck as she tried to catch her breath. He wrapped his arm around her and rolled them both over so they were laying on the cot once more.

He looked over at Felicity, who was lying on her back with a wide grin along her face. He cocked his head to the side silently asking a question.

“I was right you know” She said looking at him with the grin still on her face “About what I said in that casino,” Oliver let out a laugh, unable to contain his amusement. He knew where this was going. “It felt really good having you inside me” She said unable to hold in her own laughter.

A wide grin crossed his face and Felicity was vaguely aware that it was one of the only times she’d ever seen him _really_ smile. She was still laughing slightly when he leaned in and kissed her. She could feel the smile on his lips as he did so, and she was glad she was the cause.

They spent the next hour or so laughing and talking, both too exhausted from the last 24 hours to do much else. Pretty soon Felicity fell asleep with Oliver’s arms wrapped around her, holding her close. When it came down to it there really wasn’t anyone else for her. Oliver accepted her as who she was, he made her feel strong and useful. He made her feel important. She thought about what he said earlier, that she was his light. A warm glow filled her at the thought. In his soul Oliver was a good man, and if Felicity could help him to realize that in any way, well then she was happy to do so.

Now that she thought about it, it seems crazy that she didn’t see this coming. When she looked back on everything they’d done, everything they’d been through….it seems like they’d been heading down this path for a while.

In the end Felicity’s last thoughts before she fell asleep were about how right all of this felt.


End file.
